


The Games We Play

by Nessasephra24601



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series), charlastor - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Demons, Escapism, F/M, Ghosts, Human AU, Loneliness, M/M, Ouija Board, Romance, Spirits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 54,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nessasephra24601/pseuds/Nessasephra24601
Summary: Charlie had always had a problem with the supernatural. Things that went bump in the night would send a chill down her spine at the mere thought of them and horror movies would give her nightmares for days, sometimes weeks if they were bad enough, so she tried to avoid them at all costs. It wasn't like she tried to hid it, either. Anyone who knew her would say that the best known fact about her was that she didn't like anything scary. Vaggie and Angel knew this especially. They were always to careful, making sure not to do anything that might upset when they knew how bad things could get for her. Maybe that was why it was a shock with Angel suggested they use a ouija board at her parents house while they were away for the night and maybe that was why it was an even bigger shock when Charlie said yes. Despite every part of her telling her it's a bad idea, she was determined to get over her fear once and for all so she can get on with her life. She couldn't spend every waking moment avoiding things that might be scary and she saw it as the perfect oppurtunity to prove to herself that none of it was real so she could stop feeling like a terrified child for once.After all, it is just a game... Right?
Relationships: Alastor/Charlie Magne
Comments: 137
Kudos: 365





	1. Part 1- This Could Be... Fun?

**Author's Note:**

> This particular fanfiction was inspired by the Guardian Demon AU by @EltioLimon over on Twitter. If you're not familiar with their work, please look them up and give them a follow! Their mini comics based on the Hazbin characters are what brought this to life and I cannot even begin to thank them enough for allowing me to do this! It's a great honor and I only hope I can do it justice!  
> That being said, this work of fiction may include adult themes and will defiantly include scenes that are not suitable for children. If you are under the age of fourteen, I highly recommend you stop now. There may also be scenes that trigger certain traumatic events and I apologize if this brings up any bad memories, but please stop at any point you feel uncomfortable with what's happening and don't continue reading if you feel inclined to do so. I am more than happy to accept constructive criticism as that's how I can grow as a writer, but hurtful or rude comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted on the spot.   
> You have been warned.

Charlie stared down at the box sitting on her coffee table, nervously biting her nails. She knew it was a horrible habit. If her mother so much as saw her with her fingers anywhere near her mouth, she’d have reprimanded her for a good hour on how it wasn’t ladylike and she’d look like a street urchin if she didn’t stop. She couldn’t help it, though, despite years of trying to stop. She always did it when she was nervous.

She wished the thing would just disappear so she’d never have to look at it again. The receipt was sitting right there on top of the box. She could just take it back to the store she’d gotten it from, but she knew that wouldn’t work. Her friends would be there soon and she’d never make it back before them. She also didn’t want to let them down after she promised she’d have it nor did she want to explain that she really didn’t want to use it when she knew one of them would only pesture her about it for the rest of the night. The last thing she needed was to be seen as a coward for the rest of her adult life, so the box would have to stay. 

She could have hidden it. There were plenty of places her friends would never think to look. She could say she’d misplaced it and hadn’t been able to find it before they showed up. At least then she’d never have to use it, but that was just as bad of an idea as the first. Her place would only be torn apart in an attempt to find the offending object and her parents would lose their minds if they came back to see their home in such a state, so that was out of the question, too.

The box would have to stay. 

Charlie let out a sigh and placed her hands in her lap, fiddling with her fingers in an attempt to keep herself from biting her nails again. Maybe things wouldn’t have been so bad if she weren’t all by herself, but the staff was always done by the time she was out of her classes and her parents wouldn’t be back until late that night. It was one of the reasons they’d chosen her place as the location for their little game. They’d have complete privacy and wouldn’t be bothered by prying eyes, but it also meant that she was burdened with being left alone with that horrible box. It was a shame they had to wait until night fell. She would have preferred to play while the sun was still up, but there was nothing she could do about it. The rules were clear and straightforward, leaving no room for change. She’d have to wait. 

She briefly considered leaving the room to gather snacks for her friends or find a different activity to occupy her thoughts. If ever there were a time to find a new hobby, it would be now, but she couldn’t bring herself to do any of that. She didn’t want to take her eyes off the box lest it suddenly decided to have a mind of its own and wreak havoc on her. It was a silly thought, that she knew, as it was just an inanimate object that couldn’t possibly hurt her, but her mind couldn’t seem to focus on the logic of things. All she could think about was the box sprouting arms and legs and chasing her around the house with the biggest knife it could get its hands on. 

She sighed again and placed her chin in her hand, leaning into it as she laughed at her own stupidity, smiling at the box as she raised a brow at it. “You think you’re so scary, huh? Well, you’re not! You’re just something I picked up at a second hand thrift store. You’re not scary at all!” She continued to stare at it for a moment, but despite her words she couldn’t help but feel a chill run up her spin. Her smile fell slightly and she let out a low groan. “Okay, so maybe you are, but so what? I don’t have to think about you or look at you. I can think about other things. I can think about… Apple pie… friendship... puppy dog kisses and… cotton candy dreams and…”

_ “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens _

_ Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens _

_ Brown paper packages tied up with strings _

_ These are a few of my favorite things _

_ Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels _

_ Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles _

_ Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings _

_ These are a few of my favorite things _

_ Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes _

_ Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes _

_ Silver white winters that melt into springs _

_ These are a few of my favorite things _

_ When the dog bites, when the bee stings _

_ When I'm feeling sad _

_ I simply remember my favorite things _

_ And then I don't feel so bad _

_ Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens _

_ Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens _

_ Brown paper packages tied up with strings _

_ These are a few of my favorite things _

_ Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels _

_ Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles _

_ Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings _

_ These are a few of my favorite things _

_ Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes _

_ Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes _

_ Silver white winters that melt into springs _

_ These are a few of my favorite things _

_ When the dog bites, when the bee stings _

_ When I'm feeling sad _

_ I simply remember my favorite things _

_ And then I don't feel so bad.” _

Perhaps what was even odder than being afraid of a box was singing when a box was her only audience, but it really did help her feel better. As long as she didn’t think about it so much, the box wouldn’t have so much power over her and she wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore. Plus, if she kept singing, it would help to pass the time until her friends arrived. She thought to herself for a moment, contemplating her next song, and sucked in a breath as a smile spread across her face. 

A loud noise suddenly resounded from nearby, making her yelp in surprise as she nearly lept out of her own skin. She stared at the box, waiting for it to start chasing her, but it remained as still as ever. Her heart racing painfully in her chest, it took her a moment to realize it had been a knock at the door that had startled her. She sighed in relief, jumping off the couch and practically running for the door, happy for the new distraction. 

“I’m coming!” she called loudly once she was halfway towards the door. Before she could reach it, though, the doorbell started ringing furiously, like someone was pressing it repeatedly. “Just a second!” The person on the other side apparently couldn’t hear her as the bell continued to ring. Once she was only a few feet away, she could hear voices arguing outside and couldn’t help but laugh as she rolled her eyes at the familiar sound. “Hey, guys. I’m glad you could make it,” she said after pushing down on the latch and pulling the door open. 

“Angel, why do you have to be so irritating? Stop ringing the bell before you break the damn thing!” Vaggie said, looking up at the taller man like she wanted to break something over his head. 

“Um, guys-,” Charlie said, trying to interject. 

“I’m only irritating because you have a stick stuck up your ass! Maybe if you lightened up once in a while, you might actually have some fun once in a while,” Angel Dust replied, poking at the doorbell with such speed and ferocity that Charlie could hardly see his hand moving, like it had offended him somehow; patience never had been a virtue of his.

“Guys, I-,” Charlie tried again.

“Just because I don’t do half the shit you do, doesn’t mean I don’t have any fun! You don’t have to be obnoxious to have a good time, you know!” Vaggie counted, her tone turning venomous.

Angel laughed, the sound bellowing through the hall behind Charlie. “Then you’re not having the right kind of fun, Sugar. Maybe it’s about time we got you laid, cause right now you’re as wound tight as a puss-.”

“Guys!” Charlie shouted over the sound of their bickering and the doorbell ringing. Vaggie and Angel turned to her in surprise, their eyes wide as if they were just now realizing she was there, and he pressed the doorbell one last time. She laughed awkwardly and gave a tiny wave, worried that she’d gone too far. “Hey.”

“Geez, Goldie Locks, you don’t have to shout. We’re right here, ya know,” Angel stated, a bit shocked to hear her raise her voice. “You should have just said something sooner.”

“Right,” Charlie drawled out, though her tone was hardly agreeing. “Aren’t you both a little early, though? I wasn’t expecting you for a few more hours.”

“Really? We said sundown, right? I thought we were kind of late,” Vaggie said questioningly, looking back at the sky behind them. 

Charlie followed her gaze and was shocked to see that the sun was indeed setting, just barely visible in the horizon, and the sky was almost aglow in the evening light. How long had she spent looking at that box, she wondered, as she took in the sight of the pink, orange, and red of the once bright blue ether. “Oh… I guess time just got away from me. Serves me right for not paying attention to-.”

“Jesus Christ, this is your house?” Angel asked, looking over her head before pushing past her and stepping into the foyer. His eyes were wide with awe as he looked around at the high vaulted ceilings, the lovely paintings that hung on the wall, and the elegant decor that looked like something straight out of a magazine. He was most impressed by the black and white tiled floor, surprised not to hear it creak beneath his boots with each step he took. “I’ve seen hotels with only half as much class as this joint.”

“That’s probably because you only check into one hour motels,” Vaggie remarked as Charlie stepped aside to let her in, closing the door behind her. 

“At least I get some action, Sugar. You should try it sometime,” Angel countered, staring at his reflection in the hall mirror and adjusting his hair so it sat higher on his head, if that were even possible. Vaggies lip curled into a snarl and she looked ready to give him a good verbal lashing, but he continued before she could even open her mouth. “How big is this place, anyway?”

“Well, there’s the master bedroom, my bedroom, the five guest bedrooms, the pool room, the indoor swimming pool, and all the other rooms, so…” Charlie thought for a moment, doing a mental checklist so she didn’t forget anything. “Twelve rooms all in all, I think. Fourteen if you count the attic and the basement.”

Angel's jaw dropped and Vaggie muttered a phrase in her native tongue under her breath, the two looking at her like she’d just sprouted a second head. This being the first time they’d ever been inside the home before, they never imagined the multi-level structure was quite so big. They’d passed it many times on the street, but never gave it much thought since the house hadn’t always been so approachable. Even with the expensive decor and recent remodeling, they could still see what the house had looked like before and shuddered at the thought, wondering if they could have even stomached stepping inside before Charlies family had gotten their hands on it. 

A large smile spread across Angel's face and he suddenly looked ecstatic, like a child who just came running down the stairs and saw all the presents under the tree on Christmas morning. “Okay, now I know for sure! This place is perfect! It’s bound to be crawling with all kinds of spooky, otherworldly stuff! You got what we needed, right?” 

Charlies face fell as he looked at her expectantly. She fiddled with her fingers, trying to keep them in front of her and away from her mouth. “Yeah, I did. It’s in the living room, but-.” As if already knowing where he was going, he made his way down the rest of the hall and turned into the living room. “Angel, wait, I’m not sure we should-.” 

“This room is bigger than my entire apartment!” Angel exclaimed, ignoring her protests as he looked around again. “You really are loaded, Goldy Locks!” 

Charlie sighed. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard the statement and she was sure it wouldn’t be the last. “My parents are very well off, yes.”

“What do they even do, anyway?” Angel wondered, poking a finger at a genuine crystal figurine.

“Angel, don’t be rude! That’s none of our business!” Vaggie chidded. She slapped his hand away, knowing he’d only break something if she left him be, and he fixed her with a glare.

“No, it’s alright,” Charlie waved dismissively. “My dad is a corporate CEO and my mom is a singer. My mom usually only sings at private affairs, though, and my dad mainly deals with the high end clients because he doesn’t like to talk to the lower level employees. Something about them not being worth his time. I don’t know. They’re both pretty successful, I guess. If they weren’t, they’d probably be home more often.”

Vaggie couldn’t help but notice the mirthless way Charlie she spoke about them, her expression almost turning disheartened, and wanted to comfort her, but didn’t know what to say. She could have been entirely wrong and something else was upsetting Charlie, so there was really no point in bringing it up if it was only going to embarrass her. 

Angel, however, didn’t seem to notice. His mind was too preoccupied to notice anything else but the plain white box sitting in the center of the coffee table. “Yeah, that’s really nice. Is this it? Let’s open it, let’s open it!” He didn’t give Charlie any time to confirm or deny his request. His hands were already reaching for the lid and Charlie could feel a cold sweat starting to pool on her forehead as soon as her eyes landed on it. 

“Snacks!” Charlie suddenly blurted out, throwing her hands into the air to gain their attention. 

Angel paused, his fingertips mere centimeters from lifting the lid, his expression puzzled. “Snacks?” 

Charlie frowned. She hadn’t meant to say that, but it had been the first thing that popped into her head and at least it had gotten him to stop. If it allowed her a few more minutes where she wouldn’t have to look at that thing, she would gladly run with it. “Yeah, snacks! I can’t believe I haven’t even offered you all any yet! What kind of host am I, huh? My mom would lose her mind if she found out I had people over and didn’t offer them anything! Be right back!” Charlie dashed out of the room like it was on fire, leaving Angel in a confused state before his smile returned and his attention returned to the box. “Don’t start without me!” she said, her head popping around the corner for a brief second before disappearing again, Vaggie quickly following after her.

“Aw, rats,” Angel grumbled, letting the lid drop back into place, crossing his arms and flopping back against the frame of the couch. He knew it was only fair to wait for them. It was Charlie’s house and her game after all, but he couldn’t help but pout as he was forced to wait longer than he already had. 

Vaggie wasn’t too far behind Charlie as she scurried into the kitchen, so it was somewhat of a surprise when she walked in to find that their hostess had already pulled nearly half of the contents of the kitchen out of the cupboards. Boxes of crackers, pasta, cans of soup, and other various dry goods sat on the countertop, but Charlie didn’t show any sign of stopping as she tucked various boxes under her arm and continued to dig for more. “Are you planning on feeding a whole army, hun?” she asked, walking up behind her.

Charlie jumped in surprise, the boxes falling out from under her arm and onto the floor. She turned and looked at Vaggie with wide eyes, relief flooding her expression once she realized who it was. “Oh, haha! I didn’t hear you come in! I hope you and Angel are hungry! I grabbed a lot!” 

“I see that,” Vaggie asked, picking up a box and showing it to her. “Were you by any chance going to serve us dried noodles?”

“Oh, um… Yes… No… I guess not. That wouldn’t be very good, would it?” Charlie asked, rubbing at the back of her neck.

“Probably not,” Vaggie chuckled, starting to place the various items back into the cupboards and clearing the countertop. “Are you feeling okay? You know we don’t have to do this, right? You’re allowed to say no, you know.” 

“Pfft, of course I’m okay! Why wouldn’t I be? There’s nothing to worry about! What makes you say that?” Charlie laughed, her hands waving wildly through the air, as she snatched a box off the counter and tore it open. 

“Probably because you’re about to eat a box of dried prunes,” Vaggie pointed out, giggling as Charlie looked down at the dehydrated fruit and made a disgusted noise as she dropped it back into box and set it aside. She placed her hands on Charlies shoulders and looked deep into her eyes, her expression turning serious. “Look, it’s perfectly fine if you don’t want to do this. Angel and I will understand. Even if he doesn’t, he can get over it. No one expects you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.” 

Charlie sighed, looking off to the side as she rubbed a hand up and down her arm and tried to calm her nerves. “I admit I’m not… fond… of what we’re doing, but I’ll be okay. And hey, it’s just some silly game, right? There’s nothing to worry about. As long as we’re careful, I’m sure everything will be alright.”

Vaggie didn’t seem so certain, but didn’t see the point in arguing as long as Charlie said she was fine with it. “Well, as long as you’re fine with it, that’s all that matters.” She gave Charlies shoulders one last reassuring squeeze before she resumed putting the rest of the food away. “We should probably hurry up, though. Knowing Angel, he’s probably broken something by now.”

*****

In Angel's defense, the crystal figurine wasn’t technically broken, but he was having a difficult time getting the pieces back together. He scrambled and fumbled, trying to stack it back to the way it’d been before he messed with it. It didn’t make any sense that the thing had fallen apart, especially since he’d only touched it for a second, but now the torso didn’t want to sit back into place and kept falling over every time he took his hands off of it. He tried licking the bottom of it, hoping his saliva would be enough to make it sticky, but it only made the surface even more sleek. He tapped the torso against the base repeated, seconds away from breaking it so he wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.

He was suddenly aware of the feeling of eyes on him and slowly turned his head, his expression blank as he took in the sight of Charlie raising a brow at him and Vaggie looking like she wanted to rip his head off, trays of food and beverages in their hands. He quickly dropped the top of the crystal to the floor, not even caring whether or not it broke, and nudged it under the couch with the toe of his boot as he folded his hands behind his back, trying to look innocent. “I, uh… found it that way.” 

Charlie snorted a laugh at the explanation, but Vaggie’s eye twitched and her lips curled into a snarl. “Five minutes. We left you alone… for five… minutes! All you had to do was handle yourself for that very short period of time, but apparently you can’t even be trusted with that! What are you, five?” 

“And a half!” Angel smirked, snapping his fingers and pointing to her. 

Vaggie let out a hiss of a groan, death in her eyes as she muttered something in another language, and slowly let out her steam like a tea kettle coming off the stove. “I hate you.” 

“Love you, too, Sugar,” Angel winked, draping himself over the couch and resting his feet on the arm rest. He plucked a few grapes off the tray as Charlie set it down on the coffee table and popped them in his mouth, making a noise of approval at the firm and fresh taste of the fruit. Vaggie set down the tray of lemonade she’d been carrying and placed her arms in her hips, taking one look at his dirty and scuffed up boots on the designer couch and shook her head. She promptly shoved his feet off the armrest, sending him falling over the side as he was left unbalanced. “Why you little son of a-.” 

“So, are we ready to get started?” Charlie asked, not wanting a fight to break out, smiling apprehensively. 

Angel and Vaggie glared at each other and he bit his thumb in her direction before his smile returned and he crawled over to the coffee table excitedly. “Are you kidding? I’ve been ready for this all day! Let’s get it going!” Charlie couldn’t help but feel a rush of anxiety as he tore the lid off the box and tossed it aside without any care, ignoring the glare Vaggie gave him as she picked it up and set it on the corner of the table, once again looking like a child on Christmas. He and Vaggie leaned in closer, staring in fascination at the ouija board sitting inside the now open box. “Whoa, this is so sweet!”

Despite the anxious feeling in the pit of her gut, Charlie couldn’t deny that the board was quite beautiful. Somewhat unique in its design, it had been carved from a solid block of heavy black oak, the thick timber old and slightly aged but well tended to through the years. The letters and numbers, ranging from a to z and zero to nine with the words ‘yes’, ‘no’, and ‘goodbye’ adjacent to them, were carved deep into the tablet and filled with a red substance that glimmered in the light like rubies. In the top right corner beside the word ‘no’ was a silver painted moon, the surface reflecting the light as well and casting a crescent shaped beam on whatever it fell on. In the top left corner beside the word ‘yes’ was a blackened sun, the dark circle surprisingly devoid of light despite what it was supposed to represent. Additional symbols and depictions sat across the bottom of the board, but their meanings were lost on them as they couldn’t even begin to decipher what they meant. No matter how beautiful it was, though, she still wished the ancient and antique looking piece would just disappear from sight, never to return again. 

“Let’s hurry and get it set up!” Angel said, scooting ever closer to the table and lifting the board out of the box. He found it somewhat difficult, not prepared for the full weight of it or how awkwardly it fit in, the rectangular shape almost too tight for the square cardboard. Vaggie lent a hand, holding down the sides of the box so it stayed in place while he lifted. With great effort, the board finally came free and nearly slipped from his hands as it jerked up, but he held fast and let out a sigh of relief; Charlie couldn’t help but flinch, afraid that it was going to fly towards her, but was grateful it didn’t. “Well, it’s about time. That thing was packed in there tighter than a clown car.” 

Vaggie thought for a moment before looking inside the box again. Not seeming to find what she was looking for, she lifted it off the table, turning it this way and that. Still not satisfied, she ducked her head under the coffee table to look beneath it. 

“What are you doing?” Charlie asked curiously. 

“There’s a piece missing,” Vaggie explained, checking the floor around them. “There should be a planchette with it.”

“A what?” Angel sneered, his face scrunching in confusion. 

“You know? A planchette?” Vaggie explained, but Charlie and Angel only blinked at her in response. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and rolled her eyes. “Don’t either of you ever read a book? Or watch a movie once in a while? It’s a little triangular piece with a glass in the tip that usually comes with the board. We can’t use it if we don’t have the planchette. It did come with one, right, Charlie?”

“Um… I’m not sure. The woman I bought it from boxed it up for me, so she might not have put it in there,” Charlie shrugged. 

“What a rip off!” Angel exclaimed, clearly ticked off as he joined in the search. “What kind of person sells you something and doesn’t even include all the pieces? That’s like trying to play Monopoly with no dice!” Where once there had been excitement on his face, his expression turned to disgust as he regarded the board with a glare. “What are we supposed to do with this stupid thing now?”

Despite Angel's clear disappointment, Charlie couldn’t help but feel relieved. She didn’t really care whether or not the saleswoman had left out the planchette intentionally or not and she’d potentially been scammed. All she cared about was the fact that she didn’t have to play the game anymore.

“Don’t worry about it, guys. I still have the receipt. I can just take it back tomorrow and try to return it,” Charlie shrugged, collecting the lid off the table and holding the box out toward him. 

“Well, now what do we do? Our plans just got ruined,” Angel grumbled as he lifted the board up.

“Come on, Angel. Cheer up! Just because we can’t use the board, that doesn’t mean the entire night has to be a waste. We can do something else,” Charlie said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.

“Like what?” Angel asked, trying to stuff the board back into the box. As he did, Vaggie couldn’t help but notice a glint of light from the bottoms of its surface as he turned it this way and that to try and make it fit; her eyes narrowed and she stared at it with great focus.

“Anything! We could make some popcorn and watch some movies, throw a little indoor picnic, build a fort, anything!” Charlie repeated excitedly as Angel finished stuffing it inside. “Oh, I know! Maybe we could-.” 

“Wait a minute,” Vaggie said to herself, snatching the box away and yanking out the board before Charlie could put the lid back on it.

“Hey!” Charlie and Angel both said somewhat angrily. 

Vaggie ignored them as she let the box drop to the floor and turned the heavy wooden block over, running her fingers over the underside. Her fingers caught on to a divot in the smooth surface and she dug her nails into it. Much like the board in the box, it took some prying, but eventually she was able to pull something out of the bottom. She stared at it in triumph as she turned it for them to see, brandishing it like a trophy. “Got it!” 

Not far off from Vaggie’s description, the matching black oak was indeed almost rectangular in shape, but more closely resembled an inverted heart than anything else. Close to the tip was a narrow circlet of glass, the material acting like a window through which they could see anything beneath it. It was much thinner than its counterpart, though, and much easier to hold as it weighed far less. Beneath the circlet was painted the words ‘speak to me’ in bold letters. In the very center of it all was a single brown eye that seemed to follow them however they moved, it’s watchful gaze a bit eerie. 

Charlie frowned as she stared at the planchette. Never mind that they could use the board now, she wanted nothing more than to chuck it out the window if only so it would stop staring at her. “Yay, Vaggie found it. Our night is saved.” Despite her words, there was no joy behind them. Any trace of excitement she’d shown not even a minute before was completely replaced by fear. 

Angel, however, was the complete opposite. “Yeah, way to go, Sugar!” he cheered, his happiness returning tenfold. “I always knew you’d be good for something!” 

Vaggie grimaced. “Glad to know I finally have your stamp of approval,” she said sarcastically as she put the board back down on the table and placed the planchette in the center of it. “So, how do we get this thing to work?”

“Well, first things first, we all gotta sit in a circle,” Angel stated, resuming his place at the table. Charlie and Vaggie looked at him inquisitively. “What? I actually have seen the movies and everyone and their mother knows that you always gotta sit in a circle. So, come on. Sit.” He patted a spot on either side of him, waiting as they did as they were told; Vaggie sat down on his right with a roll of her eyes, but Charlie hesitated. She would have much rather watched a movie or built a fort, but the look on his face made her unable to deny his wish, so took the seat to his left.

“Okay, now what?” Vaggie asked.

“I… have no idea,” Angel admitted. “I usually zone out during this part in the movie. Scary movies aren’t really my thing.” 

“Well, the lady did give me some instructions on how to use it just in case we needed them,” Charlie offered, digging into her pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. “Maybe this will help.” She started to unfold it, but Angel snatched it from her hands and promptly crumbled it into a ball. “Hey, what are you doing? We need that.”

“We don’t need some dusty old piece of paper to tell us what to do, not when we have the internet on our side,” Angel explained as he tossed the wad of paper over his shoulder, sending it flying over the back of the couch and out of sight, and took his cellphone out of his pocket, waving it at her somewhat tauntingly. “Now let’s see here…” He unlocked his screen and tapped away at the keys, his expression a bit bored. After a moment, he read something on the screen and belted out a laugh. 

“Well?” Vaggie asked. 

“Hm?” Angel hummed, looking up from his phone. “Oh, no, these aren’t the rules. Travis just sent me this hilarious meme and-.”

“Focus, Angel!” Vaggie barked. “We don’t want to sit around here all night while you text your boy toys back and forth.”

“Boy toys? He’s just a regular, if anything,” Angel muttered, looking agitated as he sent a quick reply and finally started his search. He mumbled to himself occasionally, but the words were inaudible, so if he was reading any sort of rules, they couldn’t tell. 

Vaggie and Charlie waited patiently, the latter of the two wishing they could just get this over with and the former drumming her fingers against the table, regretting leaving her phone at home or she would have just finished the task herself. They glanced at each other occasionally, silently wondering how much longer it was going to take. Charlie looked over once to see her mimicking Angels movements and jabbering her jaw as she crossed her eyes. She tried her best not to, but Charlie couldn’t help but giggle and Vaggie smiled at the sound. 

“Aha! Here we go!” Angel exclaimed. “See, I told you I could find the rules.”

“Yeah, and it only took you five minutes as opposed to the five seconds it would have taken for Charlie to read the note she was given,” Vaggie countered, her tone listless as she eyed the clock sitting on the mantle.

Angel flipped Vaggie the bird but otherwise ignored her as he continued to stare at the phone. “Okay, so the first thing we gotta do is turn off all the lights and light some candles.”

“We… do we have to do this in the dark?” Charlie asked, playing with her fingers in her lap.

“Yeah. It says we’ll get better results that way. It’s also why we had to wait until sundown,” Angel nodded. “You got any candles in this joint or what?”

“Yeah… they’re in the closet… I’ll go get them,” Charlie said, slowly rising from her seat and walking out of the room. 

Charlie stepped into the hall and approached the closet door, her hand hesitating over the knob. Vaggies words hung at the back of her mind and she knew she was right. She didn’t have to do any of this. She had every right to tell them she didn’t want to use the board and even if Angel didn’t understand, he would eventually get over it. This was about more than just whether or not she was willing to let him down or not, though. It was about her, too. As reasonable as it was, she couldn’t live her life in fear of something that probably didn’t exist nor could she let an inanimate object hold so much power over her. The board was nothing more than a thick chunk of wood someone had decided to carve into a silly craft that bored or superstitious people would use to fill their time on the weekends and she had botten it at a second-hand thrift store, no less. From that moment on, she promised herself that she wouldn’t let her fear of the ouija board stop her anymore.

It was just a childish game, after all. 

Charlie returned to the living room a moment later, tall white candlesticks and a box of matches in hand. She found her two friends right where she’d left them, only Angel had abandoned his phone in place of the planchette, about to look through the tiny piece of glass like it was a telescope. Fearing he might do something stupid with it, Vaggie snatched the planchette from his hand and set it aside. Ignoring their bickering, she placed the candles around the room and lit them each in turn before shutting off the lights, the area around them now cast in a dim glow as the shadows flickered with the movement of the tiny flames. She would have much rather preferred to keep the lights on, still unable to shake the feeling that something could sneak up on them in the dark, but if that was how the game was meant to be played she’d simply have to follow the rules.

“So what now?” Charlie asked, resuming her seat at the coffee table, glad that she’d had enough sense to place a candle there so they’d have some light beside them.

“Now we need a medium, someone to call upon the spirits and ask them our mortal questions!” Angel said, speaking in a comedically eerie voice as he wiggled his fingers in the air. “Since it was my idea and all, I think I should-.”

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” Vaggie said, shaking her head and forming an ‘x’ with her arms. “That’s not happening. The only thing you’d ask the board about is sex and tell dirty jokes the entire time. I’ll do it.”

“No way! I already called dibs! Besides, you’d only get pissed off the minute one of them said something you didn’t like and I really don’t feel like having to protect the board from you all night so you don’t break it!” Angel countered.

“Well, I’m not letting you do it,” Vaggie said, gritting her teeth slightly, unintentionally proving his point. 

Angel scoffed. “Well, if I don’t get to do it, then neither do you!”

“Fine! Then Charlie can do it!” Vaggie blurted out before she could even think about what she was saying. She immediately regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, her eyes widening as soon as she said them. She looked to Charlie, seeing the terrified grimace she wore, and guilt began to eat away at her core. “No, wait, that came out wrong. Charlie, you don’t have to-.”

“Yeah! You can do it!” Angel nodded. “I mean, obviously you’re not the best choice,” he smirked as he gestured to himself, “but you’ll do in a pinch.”

“What?” Charlie asked, panic edging at the corner of her voice.

“You gotta do it, Goldie Locks! If Sugar and I can’t agree on either of us, then that leaves you!” Angel affirmed. “Plus, we’ve only got a few hours left until your Richie Rich parents get back and I really don’t think they’ll be happy seeing us using a ouija board on your Armani coffee table.”

“Actually, it’s Fendi Casa, but… do we even really need a medium? Can’t we just take turns… or draw straws, or… flip a coin, or… something?” Charlie asked hopefully.

“Nope. No can do, Goldie. Site says only one of us can ask it the questions,” Angel shook his head, waving the phone in the air again to emphasize his point. “So, are you in or are you in?”

Charlie looked down at the board and let out a groan. She could almost swear the thing was mocking her as the letters caught the dim light of the candles, seeming to wink at her in a way that said, ‘I know you can’t do this.’ Remembering the promise she’d made to herself only a few moments ago, she clenched her hands into fists in her lap and glared at it slightly. There was no way she was going to let it win. 

She took a deep breath to steady herself and straightened her back, trying to make it look like she wasn’t about to piss herself despite the fact that she still didn’t very much like the situation. “Alright, fine. I’m in. Let’s do this.”

Vaggie didn’t like this one bit. They all knew she hadn’t meant to offer Charlie up as some sort of spiritual sacrifice. The last thing she wanted to do was force her into something she wasn’t comfortable with, but there was no going back now. Once Charlie had her mind set on something, there was no stopping. It was both her most admirable quality and greatest flaw. Sometimes Vaggie worried it would one day be her downfall. 

“Awesome! So now that we have everything we need… let’s get this party started,” Angel leered, sounding a little too excited. He picked up the planchette and placed it in the center of the board, letting two fingers rest on the edge. 

Vaggie let out a sigh and placed her fingers on the planchette as well. “This is so stupid.” It was no secret that she didn’t believe in this sort of thing and had been against it from the start. There were better things she could be doing than spending her Friday night playing with a useless hunk of wood that was nothing more than superstitious nonsense, but she did enjoy spending time with her friends. As much as she loved them, though, they were both far too reckless in their own ways to be trusted alone, even with something as pointless as a ouija board. 

“You can say what you want, but you’re still here,” Angel taunted. 

“I’m just here for Charlie,” Vaggie corrected. “You know she is afraid of stuff like this.”

“Yeah, yeah Sugar,” Angel rolled his eyes halfheartedly.

Vaggie turned to look at Charlie then, easily able to tell that Charlie still wasn’t doing well with all of this despite her brave facade. “Why did you agree to do this in your house, anyway, hun? We could have just done this at the cemetery or something if we were really set on talking to some spirits.” 

Charlie shuddered, liking the idea of being in a cemetery far less. “Angel wanted to do it here because it's the oldest house in town and the biggest, so we’d have better luck contacting something. And come on, Vaggie. This could be… fun.” ‘Fun’ was the last word she would have used to describe what they were doing, but at least Angel seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Yeah, Vaggie. This is just for fun. Relax,” Angel repeated, though his tone suggested he was being less reassuring and more sarcastic.

“Ugh. Fine, fine,” Vaggie shook her head. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit,” Angel laughed and Vaggie rolled her eyes.

As Vaggie and Angel looked at her expectantly, Charlie realized she had yet to place her hands on the planchette yet. She looked down at the inverted heart-shaped piece of wood and tried to swallow past the lump that was quickly starting to form in her throat as she hesitated, afraid something bad was going to happen if she touched it. They’d both touched it and were completely fine, so it was obvious it was safe, but she couldn’t shake the image of her placing her fingers on it and bursting into flames or being dragged off into the darkness as clawed hands tore into her skin.

Letting out another deep breath as she closed her eyes, she forced her hands forward and placed her fingers on the planchette, a cold chill running down her spine as soon as her skin made contact with it. She waited for a crack of thunder to split the sky or nightmarish creatures to come crawling after them, but nothing happened. After a moment of waiting, she slowly opened her eyes and looked around, finding the room exactly how it had been before she touched the planchette. 

“If you’re done being a drama queen,” Angel raised brow at her questioningly, “the rest of us are waiting.”

“Okay, okay. I’m good,” Charlie said reassuringly, though it seemed more to herself than anyone else. “So, what do I do?” 

“I don’t know. Greet the spirits. Let them know it’s okay to talk to us,” Angel shrugged.

“How do I do that?” Charlie asked.

“Jesus, do I have to do everything around here? What are you, some kind of-?” Angel started, looking more than a little irritated. 

“Just be yourself, Charlie,” Vaggie interjected before Angel could say anything that might upset her, which she knew he would. “It should be easy to get something to talk to you, if anything. You’re one of the nicest people we know.”

Charlie couldn’t help but smile at the compliment as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before she focussed all her energy on the task at hand. She thought long and hard to herself for a moment, wondering how best to start. Once she had an idea of what to say, she cleared her throat and straightened her back, confidence she didn’t know she had radiating off of her in what felt like tangent waves. “Hello, Spirits From the Other Side. We welcome you here tonight and humbly ask that you take part in this, our reading of the ouija board. Please accept our invitation and know that we mean you know harm as we ask that you offer us the same courtesy.” 

“Wow, so formal,” Angel muttered before letting out a yowl of pain when Vaggie kicked him under the table. 

“Okay, first question. Um… Are there any spirits here with us tonight?” Charlie asked. 

The three of them waited patiently. Angel and Charlie looked around, as if expecting something to happen at any moment, while Vaggie looked bored. After a minute or two, all three of them began to lose whatever faith they’d had before in the idea. Maybe it was time they put it away and moved on to better things. As if on cue, the flames on the candles began to move as if a soft gust of wind had moved past them and the planchette began to move and make little circles. It traveled around the board for a few times before stopping just above one of the words.

“Yes,” Charlie read aloud. She felt more than a little nervous then, but pressed on. “Thank you for accepting our invitation. If you don’t mind me asking, are you a good spirit?” The planchette skidded to the side a few times before making another circle around and landing back on the same word. “Yes. Well, I’m very glad to hear that. Can you tell us your name, please?” She felt a bit more reassured now, glad that if they had to come into contact with a spirit, at least it was a good one. The planchette skidded again, this time moving over letters in turn. “M… I… L… L… Y… Your name is Milly?” The planchette moved. “Yes? What a nice name.”

“This is so crazy,” Angel said, watching ecstatically. 

Vaggie hushed him, giving him a slight glare. “Hold on. It’s not done yet,” she said in a quiet tone as Angel rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. 

“M… O… X… X… I… E. Is there someone named Moxxie here, too?” Charlie asked. The planchette moved again. “Yes. Well, welcome, Moxxie. Thank you for joining us, too. Is there anyone else here with you?” The planchette started to move before it made a beeline back to the word ‘yes’ and circled around it three times, as if once wasn’t enough. “May I ask who else is here? B… L… I… T… Z…O. Blitzo?” The planchette skidded over to ‘no’ quickly before returning to the letters. “O… I… S… S… I… L… E… N… T.” She thought to herself for a moment. “The ‘o’ is silent?” The planchette moved to ‘yes’. “My apologies, Blitz. Thank you for coming as well. Are all of you good spirits?” The planchette began to move before it was jerked left and right between ‘yes’ and ‘no’, like two people were fighting over it, before it settled on ‘yes’. She couldn’t believe their luck. Not only had one good spirit showed up, but two more as well. “I… have to admit that was a bit confusing, but thank you for your honesty. Can you tell me how long you’ve all been here?”

The planchette went still for a moment. Charlie began to wonder if they’d somehow lost their connection already and couldn’t help but feel a bit sad. As scared as she’d been, she couldn’t help but feel a little thrill of excitement and didn’t want to stop just yet. Needless to say, she was more than happy when it started to move again.

“D… O… N… T… R… E… M… E… B… E...R,” Charlie read. “Don’t remember… Oh, well, that’s alright. I know that sort of thing can be hard sometimes. You didn’t… um… you didn’t die here, though, did you?” 

The planchette moved to ‘yes’ and she frowned. It shouldn’t have surprised her. The house was very old and had a long history. It had very likely had many residents die there. Still, though, it didn’t make her any more comfortable with the knowledge that she lived in a house where not one, but at least three people had died there.

“Okay… good to know. So, what’s keeping you all here? Can’t you move on?” Charlie asked. The planchette moved to ‘no’, but said nothing afterward. “I’m… I’m sorry to hear that. That must be very difficult for all of you. Is there anything we could do for you? To help you move on, maybe?” The planchette moved to ‘yes’ and she felt giddy with excitement as it started to spell out the words. She couldn’t believe she was actually about to help someone move on in the afterlife. “S… U… C… K… M… Y… D… I… C-.”

“Oh my God! Angel!” Vaggie suddenly shouted and he started busting out laughing.

“Quick! You better hurry up, Vaggie! I think Moxxie wants his turn after Blitzo!” Angel roared, trying to breathe in between his fits. 

“Ugh! You are such a dirty, disgusting, lecherous son of a-!” Vaggie hissed, looking ready to jump over the table and throttle him. 

“Oh, come on, Vaggie! You gotta admit that was hilarious! I really had you all going for a second there!” Angel said, not even phased by her words. 

“Wait, so… none of that was real?” Charlie asked. A part of her felt relieved at the knowledge that there might not actually be any ghosts in the house, but the rest of her felt like an idiot for letting herself be fooled by it, even if only for just a second.

“Oh course it wasn’t real!” Vaggie scoffed. “Angel was just moving the planchette around the entire time! I knew this was all pointless. We never should have played this stupid game.”

“Hey, I can’t take all the credit,” Angel said, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes with his shoulders. “I only did the last one. You were doing it the rest of the time.”

“What? No I wasn’t! Vaggie said in an exasperated tone. “Don’t try to pin this on me when we all know it was you! You even just admitted it!”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure. Cause if I was gonna make some people up, it would be Moxxie, Blitzo, and Milly,” Angel waved dismissively. “I totally wouldn’t have come up with better names like Alejandro, Lorenzo, or Marco.” His tone had turned somewhat seductive by the end, like the very thought of them, be they real or not, had him turned on. 

“Ugh, this is so stupid,” Vaggie repeated as she rolled her eyes. She was about to remove her hands from the planchette and stand from her seat as she said, “I’m going home.”

“Fine then. I’m out of here, too,” Angel scoffed.

“No, wait! Please don’t go!” Charlie begged, making them pause. “Maybe… Maybe there’s a way we can prove it’s real!”

“What? How?” Angel asked, looking more than a little disbelieving.

“We’ll um… ask it a question! If it can do something neither you or Vaggie could do, then it’s real. If it doesn’t, well… I guess we have our answer,” Charlie offered. 

“Huh. That’s actually a good plan,” Angel said in surprise. 

“Before we go doing anything we might regret,” Vaggie raised a brow, “are you sure you wouldn’t rather just stop, Charlie? You might open a door you’re not ready for yet.”

“Wow, and here I thought you didn’t believe in this stuff,” Angel laughed. “You’re not scared, are you, Sugar?” 

Vaggie gave him an incredulous look before kicking him under the table again, earning another yowl of pain. “No, I’m not scared, but I am worried about Charlie.” She turned to the blonde haired woman, all the anger melting from her face. “I just want you to be sure about what you’re doing. Whatever you decide, I’ll support you, but please chose carefully. There’s no going back once you do.”

Charlie gave it a moment of thought before she straightened her back and cleared her throat again. Vaggie should have known it was going to happen, but she still found herself surprised. “Spirits, we have a question for you. Where did Angel drop the top of my mothers crystal figurine?” The planchette was still for a moment before it started to move again. “U… N… D… E… R… C… O… U… C… H… Couch. Under Couch! They’re saying under the couch! See! Neither of you were lying! It is real!”

“Oh please.” It was Angels turn to roll his eyes now. “You all saw me knock it under the couch. That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Nothing except that you’re a klutz,” Vaggie smirked. 

“Hey!” Angel glared. 

“Spirits, can you please give us a sign of further proof? We’d just like to know if you really are here,” Charlie asked, not ready to give up just yet. 

They all waited patiently for a moment, looking around as if expecting something to fall of a shelf or hear three knocks against the wall. When nothing happened, Charlie started to feel disheartened, but their patience was eventually rewarded when they started to hear a strange sound. Their heads turned this way and that, trying to find the source of the noise, but could only scratch their heads in confusion before they came to realize that it almost sounded like a marble rolling across the floor. 

“We asked them for a sign, not to play a game of mar-,” Vaggie started before she noticed the look of awe on Charlies face. Following her gaze, she looked into the faint light of the candles near the center of the room and saw the top half of the figurine rolling towards the table at a semi-quick speed, like someone was pushing it repeatedly with their hand. “-bles.” The figurine eventually came to a stop, tapping lightly against Charlies leg; she scoop up the finely carved piece of crystal and brandished it like a trophy, her smile beaming even in the low lighting. Vaggie couldn’t believe what she’d just seen with her own eyes and her mind clung to that disbelief, no matter how happy it made Charlie. “That… That doesn’t prove anything! Angel probably just kicked it out from under the couch!”

“And made it roll all the way around the other side?” Angel asked, making Vaggie frown at her own reasoning. “Look, I know I’m amazing, but even I can’t defy the laws of physics.”

“You defy the laws of nature,” Vaggie grumbled. 

“What was that?” Angel asked. 

“Look, Charlie, it’s great that you’re suddenly not afraid of all of this stuff,” Vaggie said, “but let’s just put this stuff way for the night, okay? We all just got a little caught up in the moment and I think it would be best if we just-.”

“I knew it! You really are scared!” Angel snickered. 

“I am not!” Vaggie denied. 

“Ooo, big, bad Vaggie got scared of a little ouija board! What, are you afraid it’s gonna tell us your deepest, darkest secret? Hey, Charlie, why don’t you ask it when Vaggie is gonna die!” Angel said half jokingly.

“What? No! Don’t ask it that!” Vaggie shook her head furiously. 

“Aw, it’s okay, Vaggie. We’re right here for you,” Angel taunted in a baby voice. “No need to be afraid.”

“I’M NOT AFRAID!” Vaggie exploded, fire seeming to erupt behind her. 

Charlie and Angel stared at her with wide eyes before he said, “Geez, Sugar, take a joke.” Vaggie growled at him, very nearly foaming at the mouth. “But seriously, though, Charlie, ask them how open they are.”

“Open?” Charlie repeated in confusion.

“Yeah, open,” Angel wiggled his eyebrows. “I wanna see just how far they’re willing to go. Do they prefer the front door… or the back door.”

“Angel, I really don’t think-,” Charlie started before the planchette began to furiously move over the word ‘no’. She and Vaggie couldn’t help but snort at the reply . “I guess you have your answer.”

“Okay, Vaggie, now I know that was you! Everybody knows ghosts are always into butt stuff cause they can’t fool around with each other! No one wants to bang someone whose always moaning anyway! Stop fooling around!” Angel snapped. 

“Hey, it’s not my fault if even the ghosts are repulsed by you! Don’t get all huffy with me just because you can’t get them in your pants!” Vaggie retorted. “Maybe next time try asking a question that doesn’t wake to make the ghosts go full exorcist on us and projectile vomit all over the place!”

“Now I’m sure this is all fake! No one could resist this flawless body!” Angel posed dramatically. “I’m outta here for real.”

“No! Please! We can still do this! Just give me one last chance to prove all of this is real!” Charlie said, sounding desperate for them to stay. 

“Charlie, I’m sorry, but-,” Vaggie started. 

“Hey, hold on, Sugar,” Angel said, holding a hand out to stop her as he leaned across the table so only she could hear him. “Look, I’m honestly not sure which one of us is pulling this crap half the time,” Vaggie raised a brow at him, “and I know you probably blame me, but come on. Goldie Locks is actually having a good time despite all the time she spent trying to talk us out of it. Just look at her.” Vaggie glanced Charlies way and felt her heart melt at the sight of Charlies big, soulful, puppy-dog-like eyes staring at them imploringly. “Think about it. If we take this away from her now, she might never want to do anything like this again. For all we know, we could turn her into a shut in for the rest of her life. Let’s do the right thing here and give her one last chance, okay?”

Vaggie looked one last time before a deep sigh escaped her and she put her hands back on the planchette. “Okay, Charlie. One last time, and then we put this game away for good. Promise?” 

“Promise!” Charlie beamed again as they all resumed their positions at the table. “Ready?” 

“Ready,” Vaggie and Angel nodded, though he sounded more enthusiastic than her about the situation. 

Charlie cleared her throat and straightened her back. “Spirits, we beseech you one last time. We know it’s a lot to ask but please, show us a difinitive sign, anything you can do to prove that you are here among us.” The planchette held still for a moment before moving again. “W… A… T… C… H… T… H-.”

Everyone froze and the planchette stop moving. Slowly, they all turned their heads up and looked at the ceiling. The boards creaked and shifted ever so slightly as something heavy put its weight down on them, moving across the floor at a slow and steady pace. This continued for a moment, the footfalls moving as if walking the length of the room, before they came to a stop. Vaggie and Angel looked at each other accusingly while Charlie stared up in a state of awe again. All three of them were seemingly unaware of the planchette moving in quick circles around the board, as if trying to get their attention. 

“I don’t know how you did that, but you’d better stop!” Vaggie hissed in a hushed tone. 

“Me? That was so clearly you!” Angel hissed back. “I can’t believe you’d do that after we both promised not to!”

“Well I can’t believe you think I somehow ran all the way upstairs, walked around the room above us, and came all the way back down here before anyone realized I was gone! Who do you think I am? Houdini?” Vaggie asked, her expression dumbfounded. 

“Then by that same logic, it’s physically impossible for me to have done it, too! How do you explain that?” Angel asked back, wearing the same look on his face. They stared at each other for a moment before their expressions fell, realization seeming to finally dawn on them. “Hey, uh, Charlie, who else is home right now? I thought you said we’d have the place all to ourselves tonight.”

“Oh, we do. My parents are at some auction right now and the staff left a few hours ago. It’s just us here,” Charlie explained, still staring up at the ceiling as if expecting the trick to happen again. Angel gulped, trying to swallow past the sudden lump in his throat, as Vaggie broke out in a cold sweat.

“Well, this sure has been fun, but we really should put this away for the night! Why don’t we tell the spirits ‘goodbye’ and-,” Angel started, moving to grab the box and sweep everything inside.

“What? No way!” Charlie said excitedly, holding everything in place and exhibiting a surprising amount of strength that they didn’t know she had. “I have so many questions! We could learn so much about the afterlife from this!” 

“Charlie, we had fun, but it’s time to put this away now. We really don’t want to-,” Vaggie started. 

“Spirits, that was a wonderful trick! How did you do that?” Charlie asked, hearing none of it. The planchette started to move a little faster than before, as if a sense of urgency had filled it. “N… O… T… U… S. Not us? That wasn’t the three of you?” The planchette quickly moved to ‘no’. “But… if that wasn’t you… then who was it?” 

“H… I… M,” all three of them read together. “Him?” they said in confusion once the planchette stopped. 

“Oh, so there’s someone else here tonight? Could he join us, please? We’d be very happy to have him,” Charlie smiled.

“Charlie, wait, don’t!” Vaggie and Angel pleaded. Even the planchette agreed as it struck pointedly several times at the word ‘no’, but it was too late. 

A pause hung in the air for a moment, a brief blissful moment of peace, before a strong gust of wind burst through the room. It wiped past them with such force that it displaced their hair and they had to close their eyes for a few seconds to protect them from the blast. All three of them shrieked and let out a yelp as the rush of wind caused something to slam behind them and they turned with wide eyes to see that their only means of escape from the room had been shut tight; they couldn’t be sure that the door to the living room was locked, but none of them dared move to test it. 

The lights of the candles fought to stay lit, but they were no match for the gust. What little illumination they offered was snuffed out and they were left in the pitch black dark of the room. Not even the moon, which was still rising slowly into the sky, offered them any reprieve. Along with the loss of light, all of the heat seemed to have been sucked out of the room as well. The air was cold and frigid, leaving them shivering slightly as their teeth began to chatter. Goosebumps began to appear on their skin, but it wasn't just from the cold.

Something began to shriek in the darkness and fear pulsed through their bodies, all three of them too afraid to move. It was a primal sense of urgency that forced them to be still, telling them that certain death would follow if they didn't. They were sure that the shrieking thing was coming after them, stalking them in the dark, and was about to pounce on them at any moment; they could see it in their minds, a jet black mass of teeth and claws, slithering around the furniture and inching closer.

As suddenly as the lights had been extinguished, one by one, they slowly began to flare back to life until the candle beside them on the table was illuminating them as well. The heat quickly returned along with them, falling heavily on top of them like a blanket had been dropped over their heads. It felt different this time, however. The candles didn't seem quiet so dim and the flames that danced upon the wicks burned an odd color, casting the room in a slight crimson tint that felt almost too eerie to be real. Despite the offering of light and warmth, they still felt that primal fear as they had a feeling that creature wasn't done with them, it's hungry eyes watching them as it's presence shifted around the room and sized them up like cattle for the slaughter as it continued to shriek.

Charlie and Vaggie glanced around, hopeful to find the source so they could at least put a face to the noise. Realization dawned on them slowly as it registered to them that they recognized the voice it belonged to. A bit perturbed, they turned to Angel with scowls on their faces. He had his head tilted at the ceiling and his eyes were clamped shut tight as he continued to howl in fright, his fingers digging into the planchette so hard that they were surprised it wasn't breaking with the force as he held on like it was a lifeline.

"Angel, you can stop now," Charlie said in a low voice, trying not to agitate the thing still in the room with them. He didn't seem to hear her though over the sound of his own voice as he continued to shriek in long intervals, though that shouldn't have surprised them; according to himself, he could hold his breath for very long periods of time, which came in handy for his more regular activities.

"Angel!" Vaggie shouted, not sure which she hated more, the vicious spirit circling around them or the sound of his screaming. "Stop screaming! The lights are back on!" 

The sound of her voice over his own finally quieted Angel and his bellowing was cut short as he looked around, no longer finding himself in pitch black. His eyes landed on Charlie and Vaggie, who both stared at him with questioning looks, and he knew he'd have to cover his tracks or he'd never live this down. "Ha! You thought I was screaming? No, no, babe. That was my warning cry. I was letting the ghost know it's not a good idea to mess with us." The lights flickered briefly like they were going to go out again and he yelped in fright.

"Wow, even the ghost doesn't believe you," Vaggie said as she and Charlie rolled their eyes.

"Speaking of which," Angel asked in a somewhat quiet whisper, trying to both address the problem and change the subject, "what do we do about this thing? Cause it's giving me a case of the creeps."

"Hell if I know," Vaggie whispered back, glancing around as if she could see the thing. "I've never exactly been in this kind of situation before."

"Well, we gotta do something! I feel like it's about to ambush us and eat me out," Angel said as another cold chill ran through him.

"Leave it to you to make it dirty," Vaggie said in disgust.

"It's a talent," Angel shrugged nonchalantly. 

"We could always… try talking to it?" Charlie offered questioningly. Angel and Vaggie turned their heads sharply, looking at her like she'd gone mad. "You know…. Cause that's what we called it here for?"

"No. No way. I'm putting my foot down here," Vaggie said, shaking her head. She felt like a broken record set on a loop with all the times she’d had to say ‘no’ that night, but she supposed it was to be expected. Someone had to keep her friends from self-imploding themselves and if it had to be her, then so be it. “I don’t know if this is real or some trick one of us is playing on the other,” she gave a pointed look at Angel and he returned the action, “but whatever’s going on, we can’t trust it. Let’s just find a way to safely end this and put it away, okay Charlie?” 

“But… maybe we just scared it?” Charlie offered up as an explanation, sounding almost hopeful. 

“We scared it?” Vaggie and Angel repeated, almost laughing at the thought.

“Well, yeah, I mean…” Charlie said hesitantly. “I would be pretty scared too if I was suddenly called here by a bunch of people I didn’t know.”

Vaggie made a noise of disbelief and said, “It’s not like we ran up to some random stranger and started harassing them! It very clearly came after us! And I highly doubt it’s just here for small talk! I mean, are you even listening to yourself right now? You’re defending this thing and we don’t even know what it is!”

“You’re right, we don’t,” Charlie agreed defiantly. “So we’ll just have to ask it.” She sucked in a breath, ignoring Vaggie’s look of protest as she prepared to greet their new guest, when Angel's hand overlapping hers slightly stopped her.

“I’m sorry, Goldie Locks, but I have to agree with Sugar on this one,” Angel said, his expression all too serious. “

A part of Charlie knew they were right, but she still couldn’t help but feel reluctant. She was finally on board with all of this and then this had to happen. Now her friends would probably never want to use the board again and she couldn’t say she blamed them. This thing, whatever it was, had made a cold chill settle at the base of her spine and she felt like she was about to wet herself at any second despite wanting to continue. She could also tell that Vaggie and Angel were nervous as well as they glanced around slightly, shifting where they sat as they tried to alleviate the anxious feeling at the pit of their stomach. She knew all too well what that felt like and didn’t want them to suffer through it any more than she had to.

“Alright,” Charlie sighed. “Let’s just close the board and then we can-.”

Charlie never got to finish her sentence. The planchette began to move again and they could only stare at it in shock as they hadn’t even asked it a question. It moved more quickly than before, seeming to have less resistance, forming perfect figure eights around the length of the board. It circled around a few times before settling pointedly on the word ‘no’. Their guest didn’t seem to like that idea. 

“Um… Blitzo, Moxxie, Milly… Is that you?” Charlie asked tentatively. The planchette looped around again and settled back on ‘no’. “Are… they still here?” Again, it answered ‘no’. “Um… Could they maybe come back?” ‘No’ again. “Well, then who are-?” 

“Charlie, stop it!” Vaggie said, her voice almost pleading. “This is literally the thing we asked you not to do!” 

“I’m sorry!” Charlie said, genuinely apologetic. “I panicked.”

“Well, now that we opened this can of worms,” Angel sighed, “we might as well see what’s what with this thing. Could be interesting.”

“Does no one ever listen to me!?” Vaggie blurted out in exasperation. 

As if to prove her point, Charlie went on. “We-Welcome, Spirit From the Other Side. Thank you for joining us here tonight.”

“G-l-a-d. T-o. B-e. H-e-r-e. T-h-a-n-k. Y-o-u. F-o-r. H-a-v-i-n-g. M-e. D-e-a-r,” the board read, pausing between each word as if to make it easier to read. 

“Um… You’re welcome,” Charlie smiled slightly, happy that it at least had a show of manners. “I’m sorry if we frightened you, Spirit, in bringing you here so suddenly.”

The planchette vibrated for a few seconds and they feared she’d somehow made it angry. Charlie wanted to apologize immediately, but something stopped her. It didn’t seem to be vibrating maliciously or with any ill intent, but a whole other emotion entirely. Not anger, they realized. Laughter. The spirit was laughing, apparently so hard that it was coming through the planchette, causing it to wobble beneath their fingers and up through their arms in a slight tingle.

“T-r-u-s-t. M-e. M-y. D-e-a-r. Y-o-u. D-i-d-n-t. S-c-a-r-e. M-e. A-t. A-l-l,” it replied after the vibrations stilled. 

“Oh, well, I’m glad,” Charlie sighed in relief. “You did give us quite the scare, though, but I’m sure you didn’t mean to. It was just an accident, right?” The planchette looped around to ‘no’. “No? So… You did mean to scare us?” The board replied with ‘yes’. She glanced at Vaggie, who was giving her a look that said, ‘I told you so,’ and her brows furrowed as she returned her attention. “That wasn’t very nice, you know. One of us could have gotten really hurt.” The planchette vibrated again but said nothing more and she felt her face scrunch up in anger. It was actually laughing right at her, not even offering an apology for what it had done to them. “What is the matter with you? Aren’t you the least bit ashamed of yourself?”

“W-h-y. W-o-u-l-d. I. B-e. A-s-h-a-m-e-d. W-h-e-n. I. F-o-u-n-d. I-t. V-e-r-y. E-n-t-e-r-t-a-i-n-i-n-g?” the board asked, still vibrating slightly.

Charlie had already had more than enough of this spirit and they’d only just started talking to it. She’d simply have to teach it some real manners if it wanted to continue. “Fine, then. If you’re going to be rude, we just won’t talk to you anymore.” She took her hands off the planchette and folded them pointedly over her chest, as if to prove that she wasn’t going to replace them any time soon. 

“Charlie, wait, no!” Angel said in a sudden state of panic. “Put them back! Put them back!”

“What? Why?” Charlie asked, not used to hearing him use her name rather than her nickname. It almost didn’t seem right, coming from him.

“Just do it!” Angel said hurriedly. Charlie quickly did as she was told, but she couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that fell over her, like what she’d just done was very bad. He let out a sigh of relief before looking at her like he wanted to knock her upside the head. “Don’t you know you’re never supposed to take your hands off until after you end the session? You could let the thing over into our world if you’re not careful!”

Somehow, they’d all managed to keep at least one hand at a time on the planchette at all times, despite everything that had happened. It had been accidental up until that point. It wasn’t even an afterthought, just something they did subconsciously. Still, though, it seemed like such a silly thing to be concerned about. Surely doing something so small and insignificant couldn’t really cause that much damage.

“Don’t you think that’s something you should have told us beforehand?” Vaggie practically shouted. “It would have been a very good thing to know before we started using this stupid thing!”

“I didn’t think I would have to tell you dummies that sort of thing!” Angel replied incredulously. “Everyone knows that’s rule number one about using these things! Don’t you broads ever watch a movie?” 

“Not those kinds of movies!” Charlie and Vaggie replied in the same tone of voice. 

“We literally just went over that, you ninny!” Vaggie spat. 

“Hey, it’s not my fault you two don’t know how these things work! Why don’t you try getting your heads out of the books once in a while! Or at least read something useful!” Angel said. 

“Just because we’re not reading some filthy smut about two men wrestling in a pool filled with baby oil, that doesn’t mean it’s not useful! At least we know facts that can be used in the real world! Who the Hell would ever need to use these useless facts about a ouija board?” Vaggie asked, her nose scrunching up in disgust at the thought. 

“Well, I’m sorry her Royal Miss Prude doesn’t like the same stuff I do! Not everyone needs to know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell!” Angel countered. 

While Vaggie and Angel continued to bicker, Charlie was having a battle of her own. While theirs dealt in the verbal sense, however, hers was dealing with the mental and physical. She was doing her best to shake that anxious and foreboding feeling that had settled over-top of her, but something just wasn’t quite right. There was a heavy sense of dread in the pit of her stomach and the back of her neck tingled with that strange sensation one has when they’re being watched, like there were eyes on her from behind. She turned her head slightly and looked into the shadows of the room, seeing nothing but the dancing lights playing with them. She was about to turn back when a subtle but sudden movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye and she snapped her head towards it. 

One of the shadows was almost darker than ones surrounding it. It blended in so long as you didn’t look straight at it, but it was almost too dark and didn’t seem to match the surrounding smooth shapes and lines that were cast from the surrounding furniture. She couldn’t quite place the odd outline no matter how hard she stared at it, her eyes narrowing in an attempt to see better in the dark. The harder she stared at it, though, the more and more it looked like the outline of an oddly shaped head and she could almost swear those two empty holes in the center were eyes staring back at her. She focused on them, waiting for something to happen, and was ready to give up after a moment or two when nothing did. Just as she was about to turn her head, however, the face changed and a smile that ran from ear to ear spread across its face, its mouth full of razor sharp teeth that looked like they could cut through steel.

Charlie jumped and let out a small gasp. Something really had been watching them this entire time and now she was having a silent staring contest with it. She opened her mouth, about to call attention to it, when the shadowy creature ducked behind the armchair and out of sight. She gasped again, turning her head this way and that, trying to at least catch another glimpse of it. Realizing it was hopeless, she turned back to her friends, not surprised to see they were still bickering and the argument only seemed to be getting more heated by the second. She opened her mouth, about to warn them, but suddenly went stiff. 

She didn’t even have time to turn as her entire back tingled at the feeling of something rushing at her from behind and she was reminded of that vision of claws and teeth digging into her as they dragged her off into the darkness. For just a brief second, she could have sworn she felt two arms wrap around her, holding her in vice grip and assuring her that her nightmare was about to become a reality, before they passed through her and something collided with her. She had braced herself for the impact, pressing her elbows into the table to keep herself steady, but it never came. What did come, though, was a horrible rush of cold and fear as something invaded her body. What felt like minutes was only a few brief seconds it went in and out of her, leaving her feeling suddenly so sick and drained, like her lunch was about to come up all over her mothers favorite persian rug as she fought to breathe. She watched with terrified eyes as it slithered out of her, gliding as swiftly through the air like a kite in the wind, and passed in front of her two oblivious friends, who didn’t even seem to see it. 

Once it disappeared from sight again, Charlie sucked in a lung full of air, relief filling her and temporarily relieving her of feeling like she was about to ruin the rug. Her heart raced inside her chest as she shuddered, that cold feeling still dwelling deep inside her and making her long for warmth. Trembling like a leaf in autumn, she stared down at the board just so she wouldn’t have to look into the shadows again. Just as she was beginning to regain control over her own body, she saw the planchette begin to wobble again, either laughing at her pain or about to move again. She didn’t care which. All she knew was that she wanted all of this to be over.

“We need to stop,” she said in a stern voice. Vaggie and Angel went quiet, a bit surprised by the sudden tone of voice that she took, and stared at her. Whether or not they noticed her sickly demeanor, they said nothing. All they could do was continue to stare as she slowly lifted her head and regarded them with a wide eyed look that was half pleading, half demanding. “We have to stop right now.”

It took them a moment, but they eventually got over their shock and Angel looked at her obviously while Vaggie looked on worryingly. “I mean, yeah, Goldie Locks. You’re just now figuring that out now? We’ve been trying to tell you for the past five min-.”

“Now, Angel!” Charlie very nearly shouted, her voice rising in pitch and panic. 

“Holy- Jesus Christ, okay!” Angel said at the same time Vaggie uttered a phrase in her other language; some part of them wished they spoke it, just as they always did, so they could know what she was saying. Charlie and Angel couldn’t focus on that now, though. There were more pressing matters at hand. 

They all pressed their fingers into the planchette and began to push it towards their intended word. It was such a short way across the board, but it seemed much too far for Charlie. The sooner all of this was over for them, the better. They only made it half way across, though, when they were met with resistance. The small, inverted piece of heart shaped wood refused to move an inch further, like they’d hit a brick wall and it suddenly felt so pointless to try to force it through, but they couldn’t stop now. Not if they wanted this thing gone. 

As they pushed, Charlie could almost swear she saw it there, sitting across from her at the table like it was one of them. Though it was invisible to her, she could see those arms that had tried to ensnare her reaching across the board, it’s surely clawed hands gripping over theirs to stop the planchette from moving and cutting off their contact for good. She could see that incredibly sharp smile, cruel and mocking as it regarded her like prey. Some part of her deep down inside knew it hungered for her very soul, longed to feast upon her until there was nothing left of her and she was just an empty shell and perhaps that was what it was after when it came at her from behind, but she refused to become its next meal. 

Charlie focused, putting all the energy she had into pushing the planchette the rest of the way. She still felt so weak. Her arms were like jello and seemed just as strong, but still she persisted. It wasn’t just her own soul she was trying to save, but that of her friends as well, for surely it wouldn’t be satisfied with a meager snack such as her and she could never forgive herself if that happened, no matter what her outcome was. With everything she had, she and her friends pushed. 

Whether the spirit slipped up or it was their own strength, they didn’t know. Eventually, however, the planchette moved ever so slightly and they all clung to the hope it offered. With what little effort they had left they shoved and pulled with all their might, wondering how their fingers weren’t slipping across the surface. It inched ever closer to their destination, but it still felt like hours before the glass circlett hovered over that glorious and suddenly beautiful word. Still, it wasn’t over yet. There was one last thing they had to do. 

“Goodbye!” they all said in a unison, like a chorus of singers finally hitting that last high note and it felt just as equally fulfilling. 

All at once, that eerie and terrible feeling was lifted from the room, like it had been ripped right out and thrown far out of sight. The candles no longer glowed in that odd red, simply returning to their normal yellow hue. The planchette was no longer met with any resistance and, without that equally reacting force, there was nothing keeping it in place anymore and it went flying off the board due to all the pressure they were still putting on it. Angel let out a noise of pain as the piece of wood connected with his chest, but he found that he didn’t care in that moment; all that mattered was that they had succeeded. Vaggie glared down at the board for a few seconds, contemplating which slew of swear words she could throw at it, but none of them seemed appropriate or vulgar enough, so she settled with a silent fury. Charlie could no longer feel that presence or see it in her mind. It was like it had simply disappeared from existence and she would hardly shed a tear were that the case. 

The three of them looked at each other in turn, another pause hanging in the air, before they scrambled back from the table, wrenching their hands away from the board like it had electrocuted them. Angel pressed his back into the seat of the couch and Charlie pressed hers into the armchair behind her while Vaggie curled slightly into herself, each of them taking that time to collect themselves. None of them thought the night would go like that, especially not Vaggie, who had been so sure that all of it was just superstitious nonsense but found herself suddenly questioning everything she knew. Angel's face was more or less devoid of emotion as he stared blankly down at the floor, keeping his gaze on anything but that board. Charlie, however, still felt sick and nauseous, her fingers gripping into the fabric of the armchair so hard that she might have ripped it if she wasn’t careful. 

Vaggie was the first to come back to reality. She blinked slowly, gathering her thoughts until she could form something coherent and let out a long sigh. “Well, I’m never doing that again.”

The sound of her voice brought Angel back as well and he stared across the table at her, careful not to let his eyes meet with that hunk of wood on the table. “What? Are you telling me you didn’t have any fun? Cause I certainly had the time of my life!” His tone was sarcastic, but there was just a ting of fear at the edge of his voice that the others were too preoccupied to notice. 

Normally, she’d have gotten angry at his condescending tone, but Vaggie found she didn’t have the energy. Instead, she let out a snort of a laugh and shook her head. “Get a load of Mr. Macho over here. I think someone’s a little too full of himself, right Charlie?” She waited a moment, watching with a smirk as Angel's face scrunched up and he stuck his tongue out at her again, but she never got a reply from the person she’d addressed. “Charlie?” she said again, her voice coming out in a half laugh, as she turned to her friend. She wasn’t prepared for what she saw, though. 

Charlies face had turned pale, almost ashen, and there was a haunted look in her eyes as she stared distantly at nothing in particular. Her mouth was moving and her bottom lip quivered, but whatever she was saying was lost to their ears, her words incoherent mumbles under her breath. She looked almost lost, hugging herself tightly and shaking slightly, like someone who had gotten lost in the woods and couldn’t find their own way out. Lost wasn’t quite the right word, though. She seemed haunted.

“Charlie!” Vaggie cried out in worry, jumping up quickly and rushing toward her friend. 

Angel followed her path and was immediately shocked by the sight before him. He’d never seen Charlie look like that before and he could swear he felt his heart drop into his stomach. “Hey, wait, whoa,” he muttered to no one in particular, worry written all over his face, though he didn’t move towards her. 

“Charlie! Charlie, honey, can you hear me?” Vaggie asked gently once she reached her, placing her hands gently on the other womans cheek. Charlie flinched and whimpered at the sudden contact, biting her bottom lip in an attempt to keep it from quivering any more than it already was as she shut her eyes tight. She pulled back, feeling guilty from making her friend feel worse, and touched her more slowly this time. “Shh, shh. There, there. It’s alright, Charlie. We’re right here. Don’t be scared.”

Charlie opened her eyes hesitantly, looking at Vaggie like it was the first time she was seeing her, though that was probably the case. Relief flooded her, but she couldn’t stop the trembling of her body. “What was that thing?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Vaggies close proximity allowed her to hear it well enough.

“I… I don’t know, hun, but it’s over now. There’s nothing to be scared of anymore,” Vaggie said softly, squeezing her shoulders reassuringly. She offered a smile, but it was weak and didn’t do much to comfort her.

“That was so awful!” Charlie said, her voice coming out in a strangled sob as she fought the tears that pricked the corners of her eyes. Vaggie flinched at the sound, hating to hear something like that coming out of her usually bubbly and cheerful friend. “You were both right. I never should have talked to that thing. I should have listened to you sooner.”

“Well, maybe you’ll remember that next time you want to do the opposite of what I say,” Vaggie said jokingly, though a part of her hoped Charlie really would follow that advice. Another whimper escaped her friend and she felt guilty. Now wasn’t the time to remind her of that sort of thing. “Look, Charlie, everythings fine now. We closed the board and cut off whatever that thing was from contacting us again. It can’t hurt us now.” Charlie didn’t seem so sure about that, her gaze turning half distant again. “So, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll box that stupid board up and forget about it for tonight. Then, in the morning, we’ll take it back to wherever you bought it from and demand your money back. Our hands will be wiped clean of this and we’ll never have to think about it again.”

Charlie came back to reality and shook her head back and forth. “No. No way. There’s no way I’m taking that thing back so they can trick someone else into buying it. I’m going to bury that thing in the back yard in a hole that’s twelve feet deep, then we’ll really never have to think about it again.” 

Vaggie snorted again, unable to help herself as she smiled. “That’s my girl.” Charlie smiled back at her and, though the action was small, it gave her hope that her friend would be okay.

After a moment, though, the two were reminded of Angel's presence as he suddenly burst out laughing and the lights came back on. They blinked and groaned as they rubbed at their eyes, not yet adjusted to the absence of the dark. Once they no longer felt the sting, they looked around, searching for him once they realized he wasn't where they'd last seen him. It should have been obvious that he was by the door, standing at the light switch, but their minds weren't back to working on 'obvious' just yet. He continued to laugh, holding his sides as if they hurt from the effort it took as he nearly doubled over. 

“Geez Louise, that was priceless!” Angel said in between his fits, sounding like he could barely breathe. “I really had you two going, didn’t I?”

“What are you talking about?” Charlie asked, raising a brow suspiciously. 

“Oh, come on! You two really haven’t figured it out? And here I thought you were both the smart ones, but I guess we all share the same brain cell and I got to use it tonight!” Angel said, barely able to contain himself by the end. 

“You… It really was you the entire time, wasn’t it?” Vaggie said accusingly. 

“I mean, duh!” Angel said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Did you really think ghosts and spirits were doing all that stuff? Ha! You should have realized by now that I have more than one trick up my sleeve,” he winked at them, tugging at his clothing to annunciate his point. “Granted, I didn’t plan on the lights going out completely or the door to slam shut, but hey, I work with what I’m given.” He shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand over his hair, fluffing it back up so that it fell back into place. “This was a good lesson for you both, though. Maybe next time you guys will listen to me next time I say something is gonna be fun.”

Vaggie was fuming by the time he was done talking and was practically foaming at the mouth. She looked like an enraged bull with the way her nostrils flared and she more than felt like one as all she could see was red. Her teeth bared, she couldn’t help but snarl periodically as she contemplated how many objects in the room she could use to murder him without breaking anything. She looked to Charlie, some very small part of her hoping that she would calm her down like she usually did when her temper started to get the best of her. 

Charlie, however, only met her gaze with a blank stare. In a voice devoid of emotion, she looked up at Vaggie and said two simple words. “Sick ‘em.”

Angel's face fell from a smile to a look of shock and he stopped brushing the dirt off his clothes to return his attention to them. His eyes went wide when he saw that Charlie was completely serious and Vaggie was stalking toward him, her feet stomping the distance between them quickly. He held his hands up in a stopping motion as he side stepped his way toward the door, becoming more and more nervous by the second. “Hey, whoa whoa. Let’s just calm down now. We wouldn’t want to do anything hasty, would we? It was just a joke, after all. I mean, you gotta laugh here, ri-?”

Something inside Vaggie completely snapped at the word ‘joke’ and she couldn’t hold herself back anymore. She lost all sense of control over herself as she bellowed, “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” 

“Somebody stop her! She’s gone insane!” Angel pleaded as he dashed out of the room, Vaggie hot on his heels as she screeched out a yell akin to a battle cry and chased him throughout the first floor of the house. 

******

Angel rubbed at the now tender spot on his arm, pouting like a child put in timeout. It was his own fault for not watching where he was going and running right into a doorway, but a part of him still blamed Vaggie for. Luckily for him, she’d seen the injury as sufficient payback and let it go. For the time being, at least. She very much intended to chew him out, but that could wait until the next day. They were all too emotionally and physically exhausted to care about that sort of thing at the time. All they really cared about was making the trip back home and crawling into bed. 

“You sure you don’t want us to stay?” Vaggie asked, not for the first time that night, sounding more than a little worried. “Your parents aren’t home yet and you still seem a little scared, hun.” Even Angel seemed to agree, his pout disappearing momentarily only to be replaced with concern. 

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” Charlie said as she showed them to the door, her smile brave and almost convincing, but a cold sweat still clung to her brow. “I’m fine, really, and I’m sure my parents will be back soon enough. You guys go home and get a good night's rest. I think we all deserve it after tonight.”

Vaggie still didn’t seem sure, but nodded her head anyway. It wouldn’t do them any good if she tried to codile Charlie like a baby when she clearly didn’t want it. “Alright, but let me know if you want me to come back over. I’m just a phone call away.” 

“Same here, Goldie,” Angel nodded. “I’ll come right back in a flash.”

“Thanks, you guys,” Charlie smiled genuinely. “I really appreciate it.”

They all said their goodbyes and wished each other good night as Vaggie and Angel exited the front door, a bit relieved to be stepping out into the cool night air. Despite the darkness of the streets, it was strangely far less stressful to be outdoors than inside Charlies house. It would honestly be a miracle if they could ever go over to her house at night again. Their next get together would have to be at either of their apartments, that much they promised themselves.

Despite her resolve, Vaggie couldn’t help but feel a bit of anger towards Angel. They weren’t that far from the house and she was already shooting daggers up at him. “That was a horrible thing you did, you know that, right?” Angel only shrugged in reply, his gaze vacant as he stared straight ahead. “I really shouldn’t be surprised by your antics at this point, but that was a new low, even for you. You know that kind of stuff freaks out Charlie and yet you did it anyway! It might seem like a harmless joke to you, but it wasn’t to her! You saw what it did to her afterward and you still laughed about it right to her face! What do you even have to say for yourself?”

Angel let out a long sigh and shoved his hands in his pockets, absentmindedly kicking a can down the street and wishing he’d taken Charlie up on her offer to pay for a cab for them, at least then he wouldn’t have to spend so long with a pissed off Vaggie who couldn’t seem to do anything but chew him out. “Look, Sugar, I honestly didn’t mean for things to go that far. Things just… got out of hand. It’s over and done with now, so can we just drop it, please? I had a long day and I just want to go home.”

Vaggie glared at him a moment longer before letting out a long sigh as well, physically deflating to the point she almost felt like a balloon losing all its air. “Fine. I’ll drop it. For now, but if you think this is over for good, you’re sorely mistaken. Once I’m done being tired you’re going to get the verbal lashing of a lifetime.”

“Pft. Who do you think you are, my father?” Angel laughed. 

“Haha, very funny,” Vaggie smirked, halfheartedly elbowing his arm. “But no, this is going to be so much worse than that.”

As Vaggie began to prattle on about this thing and that, Angel consciously tuned her out. He couldn’t seem to bring himself to care about whatever it was and let his thoughts drift away. As he did, he couldn’t help but think about Charlie being at home all alone in that big, empty house. Worry began to plague him again and he couldn’t help but glance back as they walked further and further away, the distance between them and the house growing greater with each step. He could only hope they’d really managed to actually banish that spirit away for good. 

***

Charlie closed the door behind her two friends and huffed out a sigh of relief, finally able to stop putting on that brave face as she pressed her hand harder into the door and leaned her forehead against the cool wooden surface. Despite Angel's supposed confession to being behind all those terrifying goings on, she still couldn’t seem to get over her unease. It just didn’t seem possible that he could have done nearly half those things even with help, let alone by himself, but she still desperately wanted to believe him if only so she could have that peace of mind. Even so, she still felt nauseous and a bit sick to her stomach, though a part of her wondered if that was just her own nerves getting the best of her.

She suddenly shot up from the door like a jack-in-the-box, feeling a surge of energy she didn’t know she had, a bit surprised she didn’t give herself vertigo and aggravate her nausea any further. She smiled in determination, turning away from the door with a pivot of her heel and a kick in her step.

“Relax, Charlie. You are an adult now!” she said to herself, sounding more sure of that fact than she felt. “You stopped believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy a long time ago. It’s time you stopped believing in ghosts and demons and other things that go bump in the night, too. And, really, so what if that crystal figurine actually moved? It’s always kind of freaked you out, anyway, and it’s only made you question why Mom would want a practically nude piece of crystal in the living room to begin with. Maybe it all really was just Angel playing some stupid joke and, in a way, you really do have to laugh about it. It was a pretty good prank. Besides, we all know that game isn’t real. It’s just a silly toy. Nothing to be afraid of.” 

She sounded a bit loopy, talking to herself out in the open like that, but it didn’t really matter. No one was around to hear her. Or at least that was what she thought. 

“And that thing, whatever you think it is you saw, was probably just your imagination. Things got a little intense back there and you just let it all go to your head. The dark has always freaked you out and tonight was no different. Nothing you can’t handle. I bet by the morning, you’ll have forgotten this whole silly mess. Figments of your imagination can’t hurt you.”

A cold chill passed through the house suddenly and Charlie rubbed at her arms, choosing to ignore the prickle at the base of her spine, unaware that she would wish she hadn’t chosen to dismiss it. Maybe then she would have been better prepared. She might have followed that feeling and would have known that the smiling shadow had returned. She would have known that it hovered just above her head, looming over her like a cat over a mouse, and trailed behind her at a steady pace, its long fingers inching closer but never quite touching her. Maybe then she could have done something about it, but the word ‘maybe’ was just that. A probability. Life wasn’t spent on maybes and what ifs. It was made up of choices and she had chosen not to turn around in that moment.

“You see, Charlie? That’s another thing,” she said dismissively as she rubbed at her arms. “This old house gets so drafty, even in the summer! You’ve seen plenty of doors close by themselves around here all the time! Tonight was no different! And you’re sure there’s a logical explanation behind the candles, too. You know Dad and his jokes. Those were probably just trick candles he ordered and forgot about after he stuck them in the closet. It really wouldn’t be the first time. In fact, you know he-.”

Her monologue was cut short as her phone buzzed inside her pocket and she paused, the sudden noise startling her just a bit. She’d almost forgotten she’d had it on her, but it wasn’t like it would have done her much good; they had been using a ouija board, after all. She pulled out her phone with a sigh, sure that it was either Vaggie or Angel checking up on her. She was caught off guard, however, to see that it was a text from her father. 

He was a rather old fashioned man with more than a few old fashioned ideals, despite being a very prominent and successful business man. He didn’t much like cell phones and much preferred to use landlines, finding them far less distracting, and would usually call long before he would ever send a text. On the rare occasion that he did when he couldn’t step away from whatever it was he was doing, such as that night, he would send a long winded and oddly formal message that didn’t match his personality at all and was somehow full of spelling errors despite his daughters numerous attempts to teach him how to use the keypad and showing him how the autocorrect worked. Honestly, it was a wonder to Charlie how he even knew how to use any sort of modern technology.

Her mother, on the other hand, was more than capable of using a cell phone and was somewhat a pro at it. She had to be in her line of work. A client or potential venue could message her at any time and it wouldn’t look very good for her if she was misspelling words left and right and unable to answer back quick enough. It was always expected that any sort of text from her father would be quickly followed by one from her mother, better explaining things in a way that made sense. They’d tried on many occasions to try and convince him to give up texting all together and just leave it to them, but he was also a very stubborn man and would insist that he was perfectly capable of doing it himself whenever necessary. 

Right on que, the second message popped up and Charlie read it instead. There was no point in trying to decipher whatever her father was trying to say when her mother was so much more coherent. She couldn’t help but frown as she did so, though, as it only informed her that her parents would be attending to other business while they were out and wouldn’t be home that night. She was used to that sort of thing by then. It had been happening for as long as she could remember and there were more times she could count where she’d been left overnight in the care of a nanny until she was old enough to watch herself. She was used to it, but it didn’t help the sting. 

She briefly considered calling Vaggie and Angel. It hadn’t been long since they’d left and they couldn’t have gotten far. She knew they’d stay true to their word and come right back if she asked, but she didn’t want to do that to them. It wasn’t fair of her to expect them to be at her beck and call just because she felt a little lonely. It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle it. She’d been doing it for most of her life. 

Very much wanting that night to be over with, she walked down the hall toward the staircase, intending to change into her pajamas and go to sleep. As she passed by the living room, however, a strange sound caught her attention through the crack in the almost closed doors. She glanced at them, not wanting to set another foot in there again that night, but curiosity got the better of her and she slowly stepped up to them, pushing the doors open hesitantly. She peaked into the room, glancing this way and that, searching for any sign of shadows darting around the room. 

She quickly became disappointed in herself and muttered, “This is so ridiculous,” as she pushed the door open the rest of the way.

Everything was just as she’d left it before when she and her friends had exited the room. Though it wasn’t very environmentally friendly, she’d left the lights on in the room, not wanting to turn them off even if she wasn’t in there. The torso of the crystal figurine had been placed back into its proper spot and every other piece of furniture and decor was just as it should be. Still, though, she could hear that strange noise somewhere in the room and she was determined to put a stop to it despite every fiber of her being begging her not to as she stepped further inside. 

She followed that sound, racking her brain for what it might be as she circled the room. It sounded so familiar and it settled just on the tip of her tongue, but still it eluded her. It rose and fell in pitch periodically, almost sounding like a voice from time to time before fading to a melody, going back and forth between the two like a steady rhythm. Perplexed by this new mystery, she didn’t even consider the fact that she should be afraid, unable to focus on anything else but her curiosity. As she neared the table towards the back corner, the sound voices and melodies got louder and, as her eyes landed on the antique radio sitting in the center of the smooth surface, realization dawned on her. 

It didn’t surprise her one bit that the radio had suddenly turned on and was acting up. Normally, that sort of occurrence would have freaked her out, but the thing had always seemed to have a mind of its own, even when her mother had first brought it home from an estate sale. On the rare occasions that her parents were home more than a few hours, they loved to waltz around the living room together to whatever fitting song they could find on the old piece of technology and she would happily watch them, never used to seeing two people so deeply in love with each other even after all that time. It always seemed to find a way to ruin the moment, though, suddenly flipping through stations like it didn’t like the song choice. Her parents would always laugh it off and move on to something else, but it only ever irritated her that such a perfect moment had to be ruined by a faulty piece of junk.

The old radio hadn’t turned on by itself in years, though, and she couldn’t remember the last time her parents had even gotten it to work when the mood struck them. They’d all thought that it had finally stopped for good and kept it around for decorative purposes, though she suspected it was also due to sentimental reasons. It seemed there was still a bit of life left in it after all, though, and she was sure her parents would be happy to hear that. Maybe they’d even dance together one last time, for old times sake.

Charlie fiddled with the knobs and buttons, trying to remember how to turn it off. The ancient radio was surprisingly complex despite the era it’d come from, taking a steady and knowledgeable hand to get it to work properly. As happy as she was that it was working again, though, she would have rather it go back to being quiet, at least until after she’d had a good night's sleep and the sun was up again. As she turned a knob a little too far to the side, one of the stations became crystal clear and she couldn’t help but pause for a moment to listen. It was a rather old song, probably being played on some oldies channel that great-grandparents still listened to for that rush of nostalgia and familiarity. 

**“She messed around with a bloke named Smokey**

**She loved him though was cokey**

**He took her down to Chinatown**

**And he showed her how to kick the gong around**

**Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi (hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi)**

**Whoa-a-a-a-ah (whoa-a-a-a-ah)**

**He-e-e-e-e-e-e-y (he-e-e-e-e-e-e-y)**

**Oh-oh-oh-oh (oh-oh-oh-oh)**

**She had a dream about the King of Sweden**

**He gave her things that she was needin'**

**He gave her a home built of gold and steel**

**A diamond car with a p-la-ti-num wheel**

**Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi (hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi)**

**Ho-dee-ho-dee-ho-dee ho (ho-dee-ho-dee-ho-dee ho)**

**Skip-de-diddly-skip-de-diddly-diddly-oh (skip-de-diddly-skip-de-diddly-diddly-oh)**

**Bour'rrigy-bour'rrigy-bour'rrigy-oh (bour'rrigy-bour'rrigy-bour'rrigy-oh).”**

She had to admit, it had a very catchy beat, though the lyrics weren’t really to her taste. Maybe she would revisit the station one day if she could ever find it again, but the only thing she wanted to visit in that moment was her bed. She fiddled around with the knobs a few more times, the song quickly getting lost to the radio waves and different channels, until eventually the radio clicked off and the sound died out all together. She huffed out a sigh and turned away from the radio, walking quickly towards the door and moving to flip off the light switch as she was passing it, not seeing the point in leaving it on if she was going to bed.

Before she could flip the switch, however, she heard a ‘click’ in the back corner of the room, that same song as before playing on the antique radio. She turned to it with a glare, clearly not in the mood to deal with this sort of foolish nonsense, but the radio didn’t seem to care. 

**“Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi (hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi)**

**Whoa-a-a-a-ah (whoa-a-a-a-ah)**

**He-e-e-e-e-e-e-y (he-e-e-e-e-e-e-y)**

**Whoa-a-a-a-ah (whoa-a-a-a-ah)**

**Poor Min, poor Min, poor Min.”**

_ “Hang on to your hats, you devil dogs, cause the Master Beat Bop Blaster of All Time is gonna give you a soul injection!” _ the radio host said in a smooth and charismatic voice, drawing out the word ‘soul’ in an almost sing-song fashion.  _ “Next up, we have an oldie but a goodie! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, here it is! That old time classic! That motto to live by! That beat that’s sure to put a smile on your face! It’s ‘You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile’!” _

**“Hey, hobo man**

**Hey, Dapper Dan**

**You've both got your style**

**But Brother,**

**You're never fully dressed**

**Without a smile!**

**Your clothes may be Beau Brummelly**

**They stand out a mile --.”**

Despite the lyrics of the song, Charlie didn’t feel much like smiling. She was far too irritated now. Was it really too much to ask that one part of her day go smoothly, she wondered as she stomped angrily toward the radio, finally understanding how Vaggie felt sometimes as she fought the urge to smash it against the floor. Keeping her cool and her composure, however, she simply switched the radio off again. As she was turning back around, though, the radio switched back on with another ‘click’ and resumed playing. 

**“Who cares what they're wearing**

**On Main Street,**

**Or Savile Row,**

**It's what you wear from ear to ear**

**And not from head to toe**

**(That matters).”**

“Alright, listen here… you… you… outdated piece of junk,” she said pointedly as she rounded on her heel and gave it a heated look, “I’m really not in the mood to deal with you right now, so if you could stop that right now, I would greatly appreciate it. Okay? Okay.” It was once again silly of her to address an inanimate object like it could talk back to her, but clearly it was dead set on giving her trouble, so maybe a stern talking to would do it some good. She turned it off once more and actually made it a few more steps than last time, thinking she’d actually succeeded. 

**“Remember,**

**You're never fully dressed**

**Without a smile!”**

Charlie let out a groan of aggravation before turning back to the radio with a more pleasant disposition, deciding to try a different approach.

_ “Ready or not, here he goes  _

_ Listen to Bert  _

_ Tap his smilin' toes.” _

_ “ Ah, the lovely Boylan Sisters ,” _ the male singer said in a normal voice.

_ “Doo doodle-oo doo  _

_ Doo doodle-oo doo  _

_ Doo doo doo doo  _

_ Doo doo doo doo.” _

“Okay, so maybe calling you an outdated piece of junk was very rude and uncalled for, and I’m sorry about that. I got a little too carried away and I said some hurtful things, but why don’t we try starting fresh? I’m going to turn you off, just for tonight, but I promise I’ll play you all day tomorrow! Does that sound fair?” Charlie asked, kneeling down in front of it like it was a child who needed something explained delicately to it, but of course the only reply she got was the continuation of that song. “Okay. I’m going to turn you off now and you’re going to stay off, right?” She paused, as if waiting for it to answer. “Here we go.” She pressed the knob and waited. 

She kneeled in front of the radio for a good minute, staring at it unblinkingly. When nothing happened, she sighed in relief and rested her chin on the top of the table. “Thank you. See? We can get along with each other. You just rest up and I’ll see you in the morning.” She patted the top of it twice as she stood back up and walked away from the table. She was very nearly out the door this time, looking forward to finally crawling into bed, but that hope was quickly shattered. 

_ “Smile darn ya smile!” _ that chorus of women practically shouted at her. 

“That. Is. It!” Charlie declared, turning and running at the radio as fast as she could. “I tried being nice to you, I really did, but you asked for this!”  She got down on her hands and knees, crawling under the table to look for the cord that the radio was plugged into.

**_“That matters_ **

**_So Senator_ **

**_So Janitor_ **

**_So long for a while_ **

**_Remember,_ **

**_You’re never fully dressed_ **

**_Though you may wear the best!_ **

**_You’re never fully dressed_ **

**_With_ **

**_Out_ **

**_A_ **

**_Smile!_ **

**_Smile!_ ** ****

**_Smile!”_ **

Once she found it, she followed it to the outlet, but found that it had been tucked away behind a nearby bookcase that was too heavy for her to move on her own. She tugged on the cord a bit, careful not to damage it, surprised to feel that it was a bit loose. 

_ “Ah, don’t you just love the classics?” _ the radio host sighed.  _ “You know, in these trying times, it’s important to remember the little things in life. Those sweet, simple things that can bring us a warm, happy feeling that really does put a smile on our faces. My personal favorite is a night on the town spent with good friends and a glass or two of gin with my good friends! Tell me, listeners, what’s your favorite pastime? What do you look forward to when you wake up in the morning?”  _

“The part where I don’t have to listen to you anymore,” Charlie grumbled, still trying to pull the cord out, but it appeared to be wedged at just the right spot where it was mostly out of the wall but still plugged in just enough that it still worked. She peaked behind the bookcase, just barely able to make out the plug in the limited amount of lighting, but something didn’t seem quite right.

_ “Oh, come on listeners, I know you can do better than that!” _ the host urged. “Tell me, where do you go when you need to find your happy place when you’re feeling sad? Is it the library? The local record shop? Maybe you prefer to go down to the local diner and get yourself a cool, refreshing Cola!” 

Charlie rolled her eyes, trying to tune him out as she jiggled the cord up and down, feeling it steadily becoming unwedged, but became just a little confused as it should have come unplugged by now. __

_ “Oh, I know! Could it be  _ _ Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens? Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens? Brown paper packages tied up with strings? I bet these are a few of my favorite things,” _ the host said, his voice changing slightly and becoming a little deeper, a bit of static forming around the edge of the airwaves. That last bit seemed a little too odd to her and hit too close to home, so she pulled harder, not even caring about being careful anymore as a sense of unease .  _ “That is what you said earlier, right?”  _

Her unease gave way to triumph as she felt it finally give way and come loose. She pulled it the rest of the way out and finally let herself smile. “Ha! Got’cha!” She continued to stare at it for a moment, wanting to remember this small victory, before her face slowly started to fall as she could still hear sound coming from the speakers of the radio. 

_ “In fact, I’m almost certain you did,”  _ the host stated, his voice now equally matched with static and sounding all too eerie as she let the cord fall back to the floor after slipping through her fingers.  _ “Isn’t that right, Charlie?” _ She began to tremble, fear beginning to course through her veins again as she slowly turned her head back toward the table.  _ “Oh, dear, you didn’t really think that would work, did you? I’m afraid you can’t get rid of me that easily.” _ She stared at the radio wide eyed and was sure her heart was about to leap out of her chest at any second.  _ “I’m still here.” _

Charlie screamed, unable to stop herself as she jumped up from the floor and bolted for the doors. A maniacal laughter began to emanate from the speakers and followed after her as she ran until all she could hear was that and the deafening sound of static. She had nearly reached them and was almost free, but just like earlier that night it slammed shut, sealing her inside. She grabbed hold of the handle, turning it quickly back and forth as she tried to yank the door open. No matter how hard she pulled, however, it wouldn’t budge. 

“Please! Someone help!” Charlie screamed, beating her fist against the door. “Get me out of here!”

_ “No one is going to come help you, my dear,” _ the radio laughed at her panic, the sound of the static seeming to creep closer to her. _ “It’s just you and me now. Let’s have some fun.”  _

“No. No,” she said to herself in a whisper, trying not to cry as she backed away from the door and tangled her fingers in her hair. “It’s not real. This is just a dream. It’s not real”

_ “It’s not a dream, Charlie. I am very real,” _ a voice whispered in her ear, making her jump, but she only closed her eyes to it.  _ “Now, turn around, little girl. I want to see you.” _ She shook her head as she pressed the heels of her palms into her temples trying to will it to go away. 

“Just leave me alone,” she pleaded, practically on the verge of hysteria as she fought to control her breathing.

_ “But you called me here. I only did what you wanted and answered you. Why would you be so cruel as to send me away again?” _ the voice asked and she could swear she felt a finger take a lock of her and let it fall back into place, making her shudder.  _ “It’s very rude to ignore your guests, my dear, so just turn around and address me properly,” _ it purred, trying to lull her into submission. She sank to her knees, unable to support her own weight anymore.  _ “Come on, Charlie, just turn around and get this over with. Turn around, Charlie. Turn around.” _

That voice seemed to invade her very mind, taking it over until it was all she could hear as others joined in. A chorus of madness spoke to her, repeating like a broken record and telling her what she needed to do, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t let it win.

_ “Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around.” _

She couldn’t take it anymore. Those voices were everywhere and nowhere. She couldn’t tune them out and she couldn't escape them. There was only one thing she could do. She didn’t like it, but it was the only option she had left.

“What do you want from me!?” Charlie demanded to know as she stood up and turned sharply, facing the creature head on. Shock filled her expression and she looked around in confusion. 

There was no one there. She was completely alone. Any and all sounds from the radio had ceased. Everything was quiet and still, just as it should have been. Her eyes darted around, trying to find any sign of the intruder, but found none. Whatever it was had seemingly vanished. She took a step back, still scanning the room, not letting herself believe for one second that it had simply disappeared. She was right to think that.

_ “I don’t want anything from you, darling,” _ that voice snarled from behind her.  _ “I just want you.” _

Charlie spun around again, feeling like she should be dizzy by now with how many times she’d done that, not going to let it make a fool of her again. She froze. Her eyes widened as she looked up, filling with terror as she shook from it. Just mere inches from her face was that shadowy creature just as she’d seen it before, only this time she could see the whole of its long and wispy body, looking like a dark genie as its lower half was more akin to a tail than legs and it floated above the floor. It gave her that razor sharp smile, taking glee in her fear as it stared down at her hungrily with those soulless eyes. 

She tried to say something, anything. She wanted to tell it that she wasn’t afraid of it. She wanted to tell it to leave and never come back. It wasn’t welcome here. It should just go back to wherever it came from. It should find somewhere else to haunt. She couldn’t say anything of the sort, though. Her voice wouldn’t let her. All that she could manage was a strangled noise that was somewhere between a shriek and a sob. 

The creature tilted its head and smiled slightly wider, clearly enjoying watching her squirm. That wasn’t enough, though. It wanted more. She was going to give it to him, whether she liked it or not. 

Charlie watched as it opened its mouth slowly. Its jaw moved indefeasibly low, getting wider and wider until it was a gaping maw of teeth and terror, and she could only stare at it like she was in a trance. It hung there for a brief moment and she waited for it to move. She wondered if it would try to bite her head off or go for her throat, tearing at her until she either gave in or succumbed to the blood loss. What it did do, however, seemed so much worse. 

The roar that came out of that maw was near deafening. Even the floor beneath her feet shook from the force of it, like an earthquake was trying to rip through the ground. It didn’t seem possible that a shadow could holler like that and yet there she was, hearing it point blank. She tried covering her ears to block out the sound, but once again she couldn’t. It was too loud. She thought for sure that it would stop soon. It couldn’t keep going forever, but it didn’t show any signs of doing so. The room started to spin and she fought to stay standing, but she knew it was a fruitless venture as she began to teeter from side to side and her legs turned to jelly. Eventually, she couldn’t hold herself up anymore and she fell back, very nearly cracking her head open in the edge of the armchair, but she was lucky enough to miss it by an inch. 

As soon as Charlie hit the floor, the roaring stopped and the creature's teeth audibly clacked together as it shut its mouth. It watched with unabated amusement as she tried to pick herself up from the floor. She was clearly still dazed and disoriented, barely able to focus her gaze. It wasn’t done yet, though. They had barely begun. 

Charlie barely had enough time to scramble out of the way as the shadow lunged at her, its clawed hands narrowly missing her as she stumbled a bit in her escape. She wondered if it would have been able to even touch her or if it would have just passed through her again, though she was unwilling to test that theory on herself. By the sound of its claws scraping against the floor once it made contact, it seemed she had her answer. She leaned against the armchair for support, feeling like she’d gone right back to where she started as the creature stalked toward her, licking its lips with a sharpened tongue like it was eager to have a taste of her as it crawled across the floor. She kept her eyes locked on it as she retreated, scooting backwards on her bottom and using her hands to guide her way, afraid that if she took her eyes off of it for even a second that it would pounce at her again. 

She felt for something, anything along the way that could help her. She was otherwise defenseless and could have been a newborn kitten for all the good her own body could do for her. Nothing useful seemed to be within arms reach, though, and she doubted pillows and cushions would be much help. Perhaps if she could get her hands on a fire poker or some other sharp object, maybe she could get somewhere, but she doubted her pursuer would let her get that far. She was beginning to feel hopeless and, just for a second, she considered just letting it have her so they could get this over with.

As soon as she had that thought, though, something came into contact with her fingertips. It was hard and solid, heavy against her hand as she felt around on it. She paused, running her hand over the smooth surface as she tried to decipher what it was she was touching. This proved to be a bad decision, however, as the shadow either assumed she was giving up or saw it as an opportunity to strike, but it took it. With another howl, it leapt into the air, claws poised to tear into her and maw spread open wide again to rip into her flesh. She took her chance, too, taking hold of the solid object in both her hands and swinging with all she had. The block made contact with it, much to her gratitude, and hit the shadow with a surprising amount of force upside its head. Whether it be from shock or her own strength, she couldn’t be sure, but something sent the creature flying over the back of the couch and out of sight. 

Charlie watched it go before taking that brief moment to look at the object in her hands that had just saved her life. The ouija board. She was actually holding the ouija board. She’d forgotten to put it back in the box before shutting up the room and she couldn’t be more happy for that fact than she was in that moment. Not only that, but the very thing that had started this whole mess had been successfully used to defend her. The irony was most certainly not lost on her. 

Staring at it now, realization dawned on her. The board. It had brought that creature to her, so surely it could banish it as well. Obviously she couldn’t use the previous method, though. She was experiencing first hand just how useful pointing to a word on the board and telling it ‘goodbye’ had been. There certainly wasn’t enough time to bury it, either, like she’d planned. There was only one option left. It almost didn’t seem fair to destroy it, especially after what it had just done for her, but there was little to be done about that. It was her only hope.

Charlie jumped up from the floor and dashed toward the fireplace, clutching the heavy board to her chest just as the creature appeared on the other side of the couch, shaking its head to and fro to alleviate the pain. It seemed disoriented now, just as she had been a moment ago, and she sent her silent gratitude to whoever was listening for that sweet revenge called karma. 

Once the dizzy spell wore off, the shadow watched as she made her way to the hearth, letting out a noise of curiosity that almost sounded like a purr. It didn’t understand what she was doing. Surely she didn’t intend to use that as a means of escape, it thought. She didn’t have near enough strength to pull herself all the way up the chimney and it doubted she would have fit through the narrow opening at the top. Once she pushed a button on top of the mantle, causing the pilot light to switch on and send the hearth roaring to life, and it noticed the board still in her arms, it finally understood her intentions.

She’d never been so grateful before that her parents had elected to have a gas fireplace installed or she knew she’d never have gotten it lit in time. One push of a button was all it took and the fireplace was ready. She took her board in her hands and raised it high above her head, ready to throw that cursed thing inside, when she heard a roar of protest behind her. Turning, she saw that shadowy thing scrambling towards her, clearly intending to stop her before she could do the dead. She glared at it and stared at it right in the eye, raising the board as high above her head as she could manage with the heavy weight inhibiting her as the creature drew near. 

“Go back to where you came from, you horrible excuse for a spirit!” she finally said before throwing the board into the fire just before it could reach her. The fire did its job immediately, taking the board into its depths and eating away at the wooden block like it was starved but wanted to savor the meal. The board cracked and splintered quickly in the heat, unable to withstand the intense pressure it caused.

The spirit stopped dead in its tracks and let out a howl of pain as it collapsed on the floor. Its body began to jerk and convulse as its hands gripped at various parts of its wispy body, like it was trying to keep itself together. Its body proved to be too frail at that point, though, as it began to fall apart and dissipate like a piece of paper caught on fire. Charlie almost felt sorry for the thing, watching it wraith in agony, but then she was reminded of all the horrible things it had done and tried to do to her and she immediately abandoned that feeling. It stared up at her, its gaze oddly on top of the world underneath all that pain, like it knew something she didn’t. This didn’t last long, though, as the rest of its body was eaten away. Its smile was the last to go, almost reminding her of the Cheshire Cat as it disappeared into the void.

Charlie trembled as she stood in place, staring at the spot where it had just been, wondering if everything she’d just seen had even been real. Some small part of her wanted to believe this was all just some figment of her imagination. She didn’t know what made her sound crazier. The idea that a spirit had just chased her around her living room or that she might actually prefer to be loopy. Real or not, though, she’d been through quite an ordeal and she was just glad it was over. She wondered if Vaggie and Angel would believe her were she to tell them. They’d probably think she was either making it up or it was just a nightmare she’d had. Either way, it would make for an interesting story.

Just as she started to relax, though, something began to rattle behind her and she turned to look back into the fireplace. The board had started to shake, becoming violent rather quickly, like it had been set in hot grease. The letters and words burned brightly, looking like liquid fire before they melted away, evaporating in the flames as if they’d never been there at all.

“What in the world…” Charlie said quietly to herself as she watched. She didn’t understand what she was seeing but she knew she didn’t like it one bit. She leaned in closer, trying to get a better look without getting burned. 

The board continued to splinter, little bits and pieces falling off the larger part and into the bottom of the fireplace. A strange light was emanating in the new cracks, beckoning her to stare into their depths as they glowed ever brighter in a dazzling show. Once the letters and words were completely gone, the board fell still as the wood blackened and began to shimmer, like the surface had turned to obsidian. It settled back into the bottom of the fireplace, the flames still crackling and licking at its contents.

She was almost in awe at the display, wondering if all ouija boards did this when they were burned. Something told her this sort of this wasn’t supposed to happen, though, otherwise people would be burning them left and right just to watch. Still perplexed by what she’d just seen, she straightened up and took a step back, sure now that she really was going insane. Either that, or she just really needed a good night's sleep. Realizing how tired she was, she decided to settle for the later and deal with the other potential problem in the morning as she switched off the fireplace, watching it die down. She’d had enough on her plate for the night.

The now obsidian block suddenly jumped in the fireplace and Charlie let out a yelp, staring at it like it was going to attack her as she took another step back. It was still again for a moment before jumping again, rattling against the floor of the fireplace this time. When the third jump followed, she heard another sound just underneath the noise of the clatter. It was almost a knocking sound, like someone was hitting the top of the stone every few seconds and causing it to jump from the force. No, not the top, she realized as she saw it rise and fall to and from the floor. It was coming from inside. 

All at once, the block exploded, sending shards of the glass-like rock flying around like tiny daggers and the lights went out, leaving her in the dark. Charlie brought her hands up as she shrieked, shielding her eyes from the fragments, lucky that none of them cut into her skin. Flames burst from the remnants of the stone, shooting up into the fireplace and causing smoke to billow out the chimney at an alarming rate, though no one could see it outside under the cover of the night sky. The flames were red and crimson, almost vengeful and angry as they seemed to reach out towards her for just a few seconds, but she was at a safe enough distance that they couldn’t touch her, though she could still feel their heat. The light that they offered wasn’t comforting, instead having the opposite effect on the terrified woman. They continued to burn brightly for a moment, leaving her fearful they were going to engulf the whole house, but eventually they settled back into the fireplace just enough that they only touched the brick interior while still standing tall. Things weren’t over yet, though.

A hand suddenly darted out of the depths of the fire, its clawed fingers slamming down onto the floor and digging in to gain leverage, making Charlie jump again as she could only watch silently. A second hand appeared, repeating the same action and pausing for a moment before beginning to make their way away from the fire. A body dragged its way out, perfectly intact and fully clothed despite the fact that it was coming out of a literal inferno. Its head was down as it finished crawling on its hand and knees, so she couldn’t tell what it looked like, but it at least appeared to be male judging by the build of his body and she could see a mess of red and black hair that was somehow still well kept along with two tufts of fur sticking out of the top of his head that resembled ears. Whatever had come out of the fireplace looked himself over, testing out the movement of his fingers and breathing like he hadn’t done so in decades. His ears-tufts twitched, like he was listening for something, but couldn’t pinpoint what. 

Charlie took a step back. She wanted to leave the room quietly and phone the police. How she was going to explain the fact that there had been an animal-person trapped inside the ouija board she’d bought and burned that day, she didn’t know, but at least maybe then she’d have a witness to her insanity. As she did so, though, the floorboard creaked beneath her foot and she realized seconds too late the horrible mistake she’d made.

That head shot up and looked directly at her, making her freeze. Silhouetted by the flames behind him, she still couldn’t make out what he looked like aside from the fact that he had a thin face and piercing crimson eyes. He stared at her a moment, unblinking, before his lips parted to reveal an impossibly wide grin that took up most of his face, razor sharp teeth evident in his mouth even without the aid of light on his face. If she hadn’t recognized him before, she certainly did then. She was sure that smile would haunt her memory until the day she died. 

The creature slowly rose to his full height, gliding up like he wasn’t even moving, though all she could seem to focus on was his eyes so for all she knew he was. Once it was on its own legs, it walked toward her. Two simple strides was all it took to reach her and it towered over her, her tiny frame barely coming up to his shoulder in height. He stared down at her with that unblinking smile, watching as she trembled before him like a little lamb in a lion's den. 

Charlie could only watch helplessly as he bent down at the waist to lean in close to her, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat, their noses almost touching with the close proximity. She could feel the heat rolling off of him and knew for sure that he wasn’t made of shadow anymore.

“Boo,” was all he said before Charlies world went black. 


	2. Part 2- Don't Make Me Laugh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie wakes to find she's no longer alone in the house and that her previous actions have very dangerous consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains content that may not be suitable for all viewers. Blood, gore, and gruesome death warning.

_ "Charlie…." _

_ "Charlie…." _

_ "Charlie!" _

*****

Charlie woke with a start, her eyes snapping open and immediately being almost blinded by the lighting of the room as she let out a small gasp. Her face scrunched up as she blinked the pain away, her vision steadily getting used to the change as her heart raced almost painfully in her chest. She tried to remember what had woken her up so suddenly, but all she could remember was a pitch black darkness and a voice hissing her name right beside her ear, which still tingled as if something really had shouted at her. It had only been a dream, however. That much was evident by the heaviness of her body and the cloud that still hovered over her mind as she tried to force herself awake despite still feeling so tired; glancing at the alarm clock beside her, she found that it was just a little past three in the morning. The sun would have even been up for a few more hours and she didn’t have school that day, so a part of her wanted nothing more than to just flop back down onto the pillow and let herself fall back into slumber, but something wasn't right.

She let out a little noise of confusion, squinting up at the familiar sight of the top of her pink canopy bed and white ceiling as she rubbed a hand at her eye, trying to clear the sleepy fog that still hung over them as well. "I… I'm in my… room?" she said to herself, but that didn’t make any sense. She racked her brain for when she'd gone upstairs and climbed into bed, but she was only drawing a blank. Just about everything from the time she’d gotten home from school the day before until then was a blur. "But how-?"

"You are finally up!" a voice said boisterously, sounding all too happy about this fact and interrupting her as a face popped into her field of vision from her left side.

Charlie was suddenly no longer tired. She stared inanimately up at the face for a few seconds, taking in the sight of those dangerously sharp teeth set in a smile that was too wide for the face, eyes that were various shades of red, and tousled red and black hair that appeared to have fur covered ears and tiny black antlers sticking out of it. Once those few seconds were up, though, a scream quickly welled up inside her and she didn't hold back, letting it burst from her lips with all her might; if the closest neighbors hadn't been asleep and several yards away in their own homes, they might have heard her with all the effort she put into it. It went on like that for a good thirty seconds until she didn't have any air left in her lungs and eventually died off, leaving her gasping and staring wide eyed as she scrambled up into a seated position, scooting as far away from the smiling man as she could. She didn’t trust her legs enough to stand up from the bed and put further distance between them; they already felt like jelly and she knew she’d only fall over if she tried.

"Wh-who are you?" she stammered in an almost demanding tone, but it was lost with the sound of her fear. "What are you doing here?" She pointed a finger at the intruder, letting him know that she was specifically talking to him even though there wasn't anyone else there with them. "You better leave or I'm calling the police!"

"Hello!" he said in a chipper tone as his wide smile caused his eyes to briefly close, raising a hand in greeting towards her, completely ignoring her threat and the scream that should have been ear piercing. "I'll gladly ans-." He was cut off as a pillow was thrown right into his face, the offending cloth and stuffing catching him off guard. Once the pillow fell away his expression seemed a little less happy and more on the annoyed side, his eyes squinting into a glare as his brows furrowed, though his smile remained. “Well that was rather rude, dear. I was speaking, after all.”

"You better believe I'm go-gonna do that!" she warned, ignoring him this time. She watched as he raised a clawed finger into the air like he was asking her to wait a moment, but wasn't about to let that deter her. She wasn't going to be silent just because he wanted her to be nor was she going to let him intimidate her with that look he was giving her. "I'm not scared of you!" They both knew it was a lie, but it was the best tactic she had at the moment. If he thought she wasn’t scared of him, maybe he’d give up on whatever it is he wanted and leave, she’d reasoned with herself. “You have until the count of five or I’m calling them and then you’ll be in big trouble! One… Two… Three… Four… Fi-!”

Unfortunately, she didn’t get the chance to make it to ‘five’. 

He flicked his wrist down, pointing his sharpened finger towards her this time, and she quickly went quiet despite her resolve. "May I speak now?" he asked, his tone a bit softer and expression questioning as he raised his brows at her.

"Mhm," she nodded, brows knit together in a state of shock, unable to do much more due to the transparent coils around her wrists that were keeping her restrained and the tape that had suddenly appeared over her mouth. She at least seemed a bit more calm now, but she was still very much panicking on the inside, wondering how he’d done such a thing without ever laying a finger on her.

The man nodded approvingly as he backed away from the bed, putting some much needed space between them, though it still wasn’t enough for her, and making his way over to a chair not far away. As he lowered himself into it, she had a shocking moment of deja vu as she noticed that from the waist down his lower half appeared to be made out of smoke, like a genie of sorts, and the partially tattered suit he wore looked far too old to be anything from her current time period. Something familiar buzzed at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp at it; something was preventing her. "Well, answering your first question: you lost consciousness downstairs, so I carried you up here." He glanced around, looking almost pleased with himself. "Thankfully I chose the room that just so happened to be yours. Wasn't that lucky?" 

Charlie could only shrug, not sure what else to do in this sort of situation. It wasn't exactly like she could fight back and she doubted another pillow would work again; even if she could throw one accurately with her hands bound as they were he’d have easily seen it coming and deflected it. Restrained or not, he was still at least twice her size despite his slender build and had a good amount of height over her. She also didn’t know if he had any weapons hidden on his person, but really didn’t want to find out any time soon. More than likely, anything she tried would probably have just pissed him off, sent him into a rage, and made him come after her. She was sure that altercation would definitely not have ended well for her, so she settled for unwilling compliance if only to save her own skin. It was the best she could do at the time.

"Secondly," he went on, seemingly unaware or uncaring of her reaction as his tail-like lower half formed into legs, quite literally popping into existence, and he crossed one over the other as he placed a hand to his chest, "my name is Alastor, your sweet radio demon! I happen to be in your lovely home because you and your friends summoned me."

She felt her heart drop into her stomach as everything came crashing back to her. Angel and Vaggie coming over to use the ouija board. Practically being forced to be their medium for the night or risk letting everyone down. Talking to the three spirits that had been more than happy to show off their talents. Unknowingly inviting a malicious spirit to talk with them. Sending Vaggie and Angel home after convincing them and herself that she would be fine on her own. Being terrorized by that creature and thinking she'd defeated it only to have actually set it free. Now there she was, having a more or less one sided conversation with it like it was no big deal or that it hadn't tried to kill her. She was almost surprised she didn’t faint again from the mental whiplash all of it caused.

How she'd managed to forget all of that, she didn't know. Maybe it had something to do with the fear and some sort of trauma. Perhaps her mind had blocked it out in an attempt to protect her from it, but there was no way for her mind to block it now. Not when the evidence was sitting right in front of her.

"mMMmMmMmMMMmmMMmmmmM!?" she said, the words muffled beyond recognition, forgetting for a moment that her mouth was still covered. Any sort of calm she'd been exhibiting before was completely thrown out the door as full on panic set in and she tried to find a way to rationalize everything she'd just heard, but nothing that came to mind could even begin to come close to something that made sense other than she really had gone crazy.

The man, 'Alastor' he'd called himself, seemed to have forgotten this fact too. He hummed in question and tilted his head, trying to understand her muffled words, before his gaze landed on her mouth. Realization dawned on him and he let out a booming laugh, the sound oddly whimsical and would have almost been melodious had Charlie not been in such a state. The same hand that had rested on his chest came to his forehead, the pose rather dramatic and theatrical. "My, my! You are right! How rude of me! How can you even reply like that! Let me take that away from your little face!" He twirled a finger in her direction again.

Charlie felt the tape fall from her mouth and sucked in a huge gulp of air, not realizing how deprived she'd felt only being able to breathe through her nose. Once that she caught her breath, however, she was back to bombarding him with question after question, barely giving him enough time to reply. "You're a real demon!? You are real!?"

"Correct!" he nodded, once again looking pleased by this fact.

She supposed it only made sense that he was a demon. Normal people didn’t typically have the ability to change their lower bodies from legs to tails and they certainly couldn’t tie someone up without ever laying a hand on them. 

"I don't understand. Didn't you tell us earlier you were a ghost or spirit or whatever? How can you suddenly be a demon?" she asked, her eyes wide. 

"No, no, dear," he wagged a finger at her as he shook his head. "I never said anything of the sort! You simply jumped to that conclusion all on your own! I have, in fact, been a demon for a very, very long time!"

"But… but why are you still here? You should have gone away when we ended the game!" she pointed out, genuinely curious under all the fear.

"Oh! Allow me to explain!" he beamed, sounding all too eager to do so. "They say that the more people you have handy for a ouija board session, the stronger a connection you can make with the spirit world! The three of you combined was just the right amount of minimal energy needed to summon one such as myself. However, I was unfortunately not strong enough to tether myself to the mortal plane. There was nothing to anchor me here aside from the board itself. Sure, I was able to play the odd trick or two, but that was about all I could do for the time being."

"Odd trick or two?" she raised a brow at him, remembering everything they’d been put through only hours earlier. "You terrorized us! We all thought we were going to die!"

He chuckled, finding amusement at the memory of their fear. She made a sour face at him, almost wishing her hands weren't still bound so she could smack the grin off his own, but he seemed unfazed. "Yes, well, you can't exactly fault me for doing what I do best. I am a demon, after all, little lady." Her frown deepened; in a way he had a point, but that didn’t make the situation any easier. "Now where was I? Ah yes. The tricks. As I was saying, I wasn't strong enough just yet when you three first summoned me, but fortunately… you decided to lend me a helping hand." She looked confused, but didn't voice it as she waited for him to continue. "I do believe your friend told you that little rule about not taking your finger off the planchette once the game has started?"

Charlie froze. She did indeed remember Angel's words of warning that had come too little, too late and the overwhelmingly ominous feeling that had followed after taking her hands off the board. None of them had known just what the ramifications of her actions would be, but it seemed she had her answer. She certainly hadn’t expected any of that to happen. She’d only wanted to teach their ghostly guest a lesson about manners, but it seemed she’d done something so much worse.

She brought a hand to her cheek, suddenly feeling so cold as all the blood drained from it, realization suddenly dawning on her like a hard slap to the face. “I let you into our world.”

“Correct again, my dear! You’re really on a roll, aren’t you?” he praised, but the words were hollow and meaningless coming from him. 

“But…” she paused, trying to gather her thoughts after the startling information she was just given. “I still don’t understand why you’re  _ here _ . If you really are a demon, you can go anywhere. Do anything you want. You didn’t have to stick around. Unless…” She tried to swallow, but her mouth was so dry and it felt like someone had shoved cotton down her throat. “Are you here to kill us? To kill… me?” 

It was odd that the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind until then. She should have suspected from the beginning that he wanted to finish what he’d started, but her mind had been too preoccupied to think about it. The thought certainly there then, though, and there was no escaping it. A new sense of fear washed over her and she found she was paralyzed with it. She could barely blink, let alone move a muscle. Her body was so still but she knew she should have at least been trembling. Apparently, she was so afraid in that moment that she couldn’t even manage that much.

He laughed at the question, though it seemed more forced this time, as he wiped away an imaginary speck of dirt from the sleeve of his suit. “I can see why you might think that. I will admit, I did get a bit carried away earlier. I simply couldn’t help myself, though! Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve had any sort of interaction with another living being? Too long, I’d say!” He looked away for a moment and his gaze turned distant, like he was seeing something that she couldn’t. His right eyelid began to twitch and she could swear she saw brief flashes of static in both eyes, like they were starting to glitch or something. “Far, far too long.” He came back to reality after a few more seconds and he shook his head, his eyes returning to normal as they locked with hers. “But don’t worry, sweetheart! I have no further intention to hurt you! Or your friends,” he added as if it were an afterthought. “I just took a good look at you and thought you would like to play a game with me! So tell me…” he beamed as he lifted himself out of the chair and floated back over the bed, his legs disappearing again. He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head up so their noses were touching, the tip of his claw so sharp that she could feel it against her throat and he could feel the racing of her heart as she stared up at him expressionlessly. “Shall we?”

The two of them continued to stare at each other like that for what felt like the longest time. The close proximity should have left her worried, but something told her that there was at least a bit of truth to his words; he needed her for something, so she was safe, for now. Eventually, though, Charlie remembered how to move her body. She placed her hands on his chest and gently pushed him back, not receiving any resistance from him as she put some distance between them again, though he did look at her questioningly. She hadn't even realized he'd unbound her hands until then and she subconsciously rubbed at her wrists once she did; they hadn't hurt in the slightest but she could still feel them ghost across her skin, leaving goosebumps crawling up her arm. She said nothing as she climbed off the bed and walked toward the door on the other side of the room. 

“What are you doing?” the demon asked, watching her go with confusion written all over his face. She ignored him. “Excuse me, but I’m speaking to you.” Her head didn’t even turn in his direction and she acted like he wasn’t even there entirely. Floating around the bed, he stopped on the other side and tilted his head curiously, wondering if she was going to try to make a break for it again. He sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case. He wasn’t much in the mood to chase her around again and the thought of being slapped in the face by another heavy object didn’t sound very appealing. That thought was quickly abandoned, though, when she didn’t open the door that led out into the hallway. She flicked on the light of the darkened room as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, barring him from seeing what she was doing; he could hear shuffling around inside and some sort of metal clacking together from the other side, but not much else. He could have easily phased through the wall or simply opened the door on his own but something told him that wouldn’t blow over well, so he stayed put. “I suppose I’ll just wait out here, then.”

Charlie reemerged a moment later, turning off the light and shutting the door behind her. Purposefully, she didn’t even look the demon's way as she stepped back into her room. Still, though, it was hard to miss the somewhat dramatic way he covered his eyes and turned his head away upon seeing her. 

“Young lady, are you aware that you are only in your nightdress!?” he asked in exasperation, somehow managing to smile and grimace at the same time. 

Charlie kept her expression blank and her head held high, not feeling any shame in the way she was dressed. She climbed back into her bed and tucked herself under the comforter as she propped herself up against the headboard and her multiple layers of pillows. From the drawer of her nightstand she pulled out a brush and began using it on her long, thick hair, feeling the tangles slowly begin to work their way out. It was a bit of a chore considering all the running around she’d done that night, but she was used to the slight sting that came with it.

The demon glanced at her and allowed himself to at least turn towards her now that she was under the covers, but the situation still felt very inappropriate to him; it was improper to see a woman in bed and she was in her nightgown, no less, which only made the situation that much worse. He kept his head turned away, though, and blocked her sight from the corner of his eye with his hand. “Good golly, where are your manners? Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to under dress in front of a man?”

Charlie stared off into space, silently counting the strokes of her brush as she continued to run it through her hair. After she was satisfied with the state of her soft, wavy locks, she placed her hairbrush back into the drawer of her bedside table and rummaged through the other contents until she found a hair tie. She then fashioned her hair into a bun on top of her head and settled into the pillows as she pulled the comforter up to her shoulders, laying down on her side so she was facing away from the thing still hovering over her floor.

He glanced at her again, his smile twitching at the corners as he fixed a glare on her back. She had some nerve turning away from him and blatantly ignoring him like that. He had half a mind to teach her a lesson about turning one's back at a demon, but the smarter half told him to hold back. If she wanted to try her luck at that little game, he was more than willing to play along. 

“Alright, then. I can see you need time to think things over,” he said as he turned away from the bed, finally able to lower his hand from his face now that she was out of sight. “Why don’t you sleep on it and we’ll finish talking things over in the morning. Good night.”

Charlie almost couldn’t believe that he was gone when she no longer felt his presence in the room. She almost didn’t want to. It seemed too good to be true that her spur of the moment plan had actually worked, especially since she felt ready to wet herself and her heart had been racing at a somewhat painful speed the entire time. How she’d managed to stay quiet, she didn’t know, but she silently thanked whoever was listening that she’d found the strength to. She laid completely still for the longest time, sure that if she moved so much as an inch he’d pop back up out of nowhere and start terrorizing her again. She couldn’t even turn to look at the clock to see how long it’d been. Eventually, though, the fear subsided and the stillness with which she lay only reminded her body of how tired she still was. The quiet of her room slow lulled her into submission and, soon enough, she couldn’t fight the call of sleep anymore and her eyes fluttered shut. 

She wished she could say that the rest of her night was pleasant. That it had been nothing but unicorns, rainbows, and happiness all around. She wished she’d gone to some magical place where all her cares just melted away and nothing ever mattered. Or that she hadn’t even dreamt at all. She would have gladly taken the black void of nothingness over what waited for her. 

***

_ The ground was so slick beneath her feet. It had rained that morning, she recalled as she pushed the branches and underbrush aside, feeling the cold, wet droplets that clung to the leaves hit her skin each time. That fact should have soothed her; she’d always liked the rain, but in that moment it was only yet another hindrance she could add to the ever growing list. Not for the first time she nearly slipped and lost her balance on the loose earth but caught herself before she could fall. Her hands dug into the dirt, clawing into it as she shoved her body back into a standing position and used the momentum to push herself forward. Her body ached and she could feel cuts on her hands and legs from the tiny, sharp edges of the foliage piercing into her skin. She could feel the underbrush tugging at her clothes like tiny fingers, trying to snare her in their hold, but she couldn’t stop. She had to keep running.  _

_ She didn’t know how far she’d gone or for how long, but it felt like ages. The trees above her head were so thick that they blacked out the moon and she couldn’t even see the stars. It was so dark that she could barely see three feet in front of her and so very cold. She longed for a sliver of light, just a momentary reprieve from the inky, desolate night, but she knew it wouldn’t come. Not until morning. The morning light would bring warmth. The light would bring safety. She just had to make it until then. She just had to keep running. _

_ Her chest stung with each breath she took, the icy air like tiny knives stabbing her lungs all at once. Despite this, she continued to pant, trying to offer her body the oxygen it so desperately needed. Her limbs felt like jelly and her heart pounded against her ribcage. She could feel her limbs trembling, but not just from the cold. She was sure her legs were going to give out at any second and a part of her almost wished they would. At least then she’d have an excuse to lie down on the ground and rest her tired body. She’d made that mistake once before, though, and wasn’t about to make it again. The still-bleeding gash on the side of her arm was evidence enough of why that was a bad idea.  _

_ As if on cue, a thunderous and near deafening noise rang out behind her and seconds later she heard something wize right beside her ear, mere inches from making contact with it. The lightning fast object sped past her and hit a tree a few feet away from her, the bark around the impact area cracking and exploding into several tiny pieces. She nearly screamed, feeling the urge well up inside her until the pressure was so great that she thought she might burst from it, but didn’t make a sound. If she wasn’t quiet, she would be found. It was a foolish thought, really. It wasn’t as if the racket of her running and panting wasn’t already giving away her position, but it was the last hope she had left. The last thing she could cling to. If she didn’t have that, then there was really no point left to run.  _

_ She didn’t dare glance behind her. She had to keep her eyes forward or she’d chance running right into a tree or falling down a hill. Not only that, but she didn’t want to risk seeing her pursuer closing in on her. Not again. She’d thought her heart was going to leap right out of her chest the last time she’d looked. She couldn’t hear her follower, not anymore, but she knew they were there. Watching, waiting, for the moment to strike. It seemed they wouldn’t have to wait long. _

_ Her body gradually began to betray her. She couldn’t keep the same pace she’d been running all that time and she could feel herself getting slower, weaker. She was just so tired. She needed to stop. A moment of rest. That’s all she needed. She’d be fine after that and everything would be okay. She could run longer and faster. She had to tell herself that. She had to believe it or she’d never have been able to stop. _

_ In what felt like a spur of the moment decision, she looked for the largest tree in the surrounding area and ducked behind it, pressing her back into it like she was trying to melt into the bark. She did her best to stay standing as she tried to catch her breath, but her legs simply couldn’t support her weight anymore. Sinking down into a seated position, she curled into herself, trying to retain what little warmth she had left. She pulled at the hem of her skirt to wrap it around her legs but she only found it tattered and torn in a far worse state than her scraped and bleeding skin, the once lovely fabric now stained with dirt as it had protected her from the worst of the underbrush. She wanted to cry as she sat there, alone in the dark, but she fought to preserve what little dignity she had left as she wrapped her arms around herself and focused on her breathing. When she eventually told her story, at least she could say she didn’t cry. _

_ Also not for the first time, she wondered what she’d done to deserve what happened to her. If she’d only just stayed home and not left campus, none of it would have happened. She wouldn’t have left the party early because she had classes that morning and she wouldn’t have left alone because her roommate wasn’t ready to leave. She wouldn’t have ended up cutting through the woods because the path was shorter and would have cut her walk in half. She wouldn’t have thought that she’d surely been safer, not left out in the open on the street where everyone could see her. She wouldn’t have gotten followed and chased, hunted down like some sort of animal ripe for the taking. There were so many things she shouldn’t have done that night, but there was no taking them back. All she could do was learn from her mistakes and do better next time.  _

_ It was such a surreal thing to realize, that it was her own doing that she’d ended up that way, shivering and terrified on the forest floor. Still, though, it really didn’t matter who was to blame for her misfortune. She didn’t deserve what happened to her that night. No one did.  _

_ As she was picking a twig out of her shoe, wondering how long it’d been there and how she hadn’t noticed it before, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and squinted her eyes, trying to make out that odd shape in the darkness. A tiny gasp of air escaped her as realization dawned on her and a new sense of hope filled her. It was a light, a small beacon that was calling out to her. She couldn’t help but smile with relief, her eyes glistening with fresh, unshed tears even in the darkness. Light meant that someone was nearby and that someone could help her. They could patch up her wounds. They could get her out of the cold and into the warmth. They could save her.  _

_ Her hands pressed into the cold, damp earth as she began to shift her weight, preparing herself to stand. Her legs began to shake even before she had the chance to stand and she fell back down a few times but she didn’t care. The light wasn’t far. She could hold out until then and rest her weary body for an entire week if she wanted to once it was all over.  _

_ She froze, the smile immediately leaving her face as she stood locked in a half crouched, half seated position.  _

_ It was quiet again, almost frighteningly so considering her surroundings, but she knew what she’d heard. A twig had snapped close by. Very close. In any other situation, she might have assumed it was just any other animal, but she wasn’t in any other situation and she couldn’t afford to take that risk. Her senses on high alert again, she listened for another stick to break, a footfall to disturb the earth, or any other sign that she wasn’t alone. Aside from the slight wind that rustled the trees around her, though, no other sound came. Wondering if maybe she’d imagined it or she was just being paranoid, she thought it better to be safe than sorry as she slowly and carefully lowered herself back into a fully seated position, mindful that a fall would make too much noise. Flattening her hands and bracing her arms, she leaned her weight forward and peaked ever so slightly around her hiding place, practically invisible under the cover of night. Her heart dropped into her stomach and she nearly let out a squeak of fright before she managed to catch herself as she covered her mouth and bit her tongue, her eyes wide with fright.  _

_ There it was, a blackened shape visible even in the dark. Her pursuer. Her tormentor. Her monster. It turned its head slowly, scanning the trees for any sign of movement, the gesture so slow and calculated that it almost looked like it was standing completely still. Its gaze eventually came to her tree and stopped. She was almost certain it could see her, despite how still and well hidden she was. She could feel its eyes burning into her and new, fresh fear welled up inside her as she pressed her hand tighter over her mouth and bit down harder on her tongue to the point where she could taste blood. She didn’t even allow herself to breathe, afraid that even the tiniest puff would alert the thing to her presence. They both waited, completely still and unmoving, for what felt like the longest time. It seemed to get bored eventually, though, as it slunk back into the darkness, disappearing and melting away like it hadn’t just been there seconds before.  _

_ She waited, staring at the place it had just been for another moment, listening for any sign that it might come back. Once she was sure it was gone, her body remembered that it needed air. Desperately. She could feel the blood rushing to her face and her vision began to blur as she felt dizzy. Removing her hand from her mouth, she quickly sucked in a breath and leaned into her arms, doubling over as she took deep gulps of air into her lungs. She eventually felt right again, never having felt so happy to breathe in her life, but she knew it wasn’t over yet. There was still one last challenge she had to face.  _

_ Looking up, she locked her eyes on that distant ball of light, its luster shining like a star to guide her to safety. Her muscles tensed and relaxed again, a grim determination setting into her face as she mentally prepared herself. It didn’t matter anymore that she was tired, cold, and weak. All that mattered in that moment was the light and nothing was going to stop her, not even herself.  _

_ Taking one last deep breath to steady herself, she jumped up with the grace and agility of a feline; anyone who saw her in that moment might have mistaken her for a bobcat or mountain lion leaping through the dark and a part of her was proud that she almost felt like one. She sprinted through the trees with a burst of energy she didn’t know she had left, darting around the trunks and ducking under branches as if she could see them clear as day. She could still feel the underbrush clawing at her skin and clothing, the fear at the back of her mind turning them into hands grabbing at her from the dark, but they didn’t matter. Even when her hair, which had been styled and curled into perfect ringlets atop her head only hours before, had gotten caught on a branch, that didn’t matter either. She merely gave it a quick yank, feeling as it tore and ripped from her skull. It was painful, but it would grow back; it was only hair, after all. She didn’t even care how much noise she was making. She couldn’t hear anything over the sound of her panting breath and racing heart, but she doubted she would have heard much either way. Nothing else mattered except for what was right in front of her. _

_ Eyes still trained on the spot ahead, she couldn’t help but smile again as her prize came closer and closer, the light steadily getting bigger the closer she got. A minute or two more and she would be there.  _

_ “Help!” she tried to call out, but her voice only came out hoarse and broken, no doubt from when she’d been screaming her lungs out when she’d first been chased, hoping someone would hear her. There was definitely no chance of that happening with the state her voice was in then. Still, she tried again, unwilling to give up. “Please! Help me!” The light didn’t budge and she began to wonder if it was because they couldn’t hear or if it was because the light was in a building of some kind. She didn’t care, though, as long as she was safe.  _

_ The light was getting so close, like she could reach out her hand and touch it even though it was still a fair distance away. Another burst of energy filled her at the thought and she sprinted forward faster, her legs moving a speed she didn’t think possible for herself.  _

_ Eventually, she broke out of the treeline and stepped into a clearing. All at once, she could see the stars above her head and silver beams of moonlight shone down on her. The sudden light was almost blinding, but it was still oh-so-welcoming even as her eyes stung. Blinking away the pain, a choked laugh of happiness burst from her as she saw the outline of a person behind the light of the lantern they were holding, their body turned toward her as if watching her approach.  _

_ “Please! Please, I need your help!” she said, her voice a bit less feeble this time. They didn’t move, apparently shocked at the sight of a mangled and dirty woman emerging from the trees and sprinting right at them. Realizing how it must look, she skidded to a stop just a few feet away from the light of the lantern, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath again. “Please, listen to me! You have to get me out of here! There’s something in those woods and I don’t know if it’s still following me or how far it is behind me! It’ll probably kill us both if we don’t leave here right now! Please tell me you know the way out of this place!” _

_ The figure continued to stand petrified, staring at her blankly and not saying a single word. More than a little confused at their lack of reaction, she tried a different approach. _

_ “Listen, I’m sorry if I startled you, but we really don’t have time for apologies! I’ll do it properly once we’re out of here, but we really need to leave before it finds us! If I noticed your lantern, I’m sure it did too! Do you have an automobile or something nearby that can get us out of here quickly?” she asked, her voice a bit more stern.  _

_ Still, she received nothing in reply and it was making her blood start to boil. She could understand them being startled or afraid, but the least they could do was acknowledge her. Surely her words of warning should have brought them out of whatever state they were in. Anyone with half a brain would have at least turned to run at the mere sight of her, least of all the knowledge that there was something lurking about with the intent to kill. She was done being nice by then. It was time for action.  _

_ “Are you hard of hearing or just plain stupid?” she barked, stomping the rest of the way towards them. “I said we need to go! I honestly don’t care where at this point, but if that thing finds us and you can’t get me out of here, you can be sure that I’m going to-!” She grabbed them by the shoulder and gave them a light shove, trying to bring them back to their senses. She was woefully unprepared, however, when they rocked back on their feet and fell flat on their back to the ground, the lantern slipping from their hand and hitting the ground as well in an upright position. “Whoah, did I really shove you that hard?” she asked, worried she might have hurt them, but didn’t hear any noise of pain. She hadn’t heard anything when they’d hit the ground, for that matter.  _

_ It suddenly clicked in her mind that something definitely wasn’t right. She stared at the person, now no longer so dark behind the glow of the lantern, and realized that they seemed almost too flat, too stiff against the grass beneath their back, their expression nonexistent as they stared up at the sky. Slowly and methodically, she leaned down and picked up the lantern, turning the light so she could see them more clearly. Her eyes widened and her heart dropped when she saw the patchwork skin and bits of straw sticking out of various places on its body.  _

_ A scarecrow. It was just a scarecrow. All that time and energy she’d spent running towards a lifeless sack filled with hay. She’d even yelled at it and talked to it like it was a person. She wanted to scream, laugh, and tear the stupid thing to shreds all at the same time as she realized she’d been tricked; her first thought might have been that it had simply been abandoned out there for no sensible reason, but the lantern still left burning there was evidence to the contrary. She wanted to rip that lifeless stare off its face and shred it with her bare teeth, but she couldn’t do any of that. She could only stand there, feeling as lifeless as the scarecrow looked. Tears began to stream down her face; she didn’t know when she started crying, but it felt oddly good to let them out and not fight them. She didn’t sob or shudder, either. A peculiar quiet had settled over her and she barely reacted when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.  _

_ Slowly, she turned, feeling drained of all her energy and surprised she could even stand up anymore. The light of the lantern fell over the monster and she could only stare into its dark, cold, animalistic eyes as it stared back at her. They both watched and waited, wondering who would dare to make the first move. She couldn’t run anymore, though. She was too tired. Realizing this as it watched the tears fall lifelessly down her face, it raised its muzzle towards her, pressing the cold and slightly damp tip into her forehead so it was all she could see.  _

_ Perhaps it was the sudden change in temperature to her skin that brought her back or maybe she finally began to understand what was happening, but a shiver ran down her spine and she sucked in a breath, her eyes widening in obvious fear. Her throat stung as a scream ripped through her, but that was the least of her pain as something tore into her skull and cleaved it in two. _

***

Charlie jerked awake so hard that she fell out of bed, very nearly busting her head open on the corner of her nightstand in the process. As she sat up, her hands quickly went to her head, feeling around her skull. She was sure that she was going to find her head in pieces with bits of bone hanging loosely by tiny slivers of skin and chunks of brain running down her face. She was relieved to find that her head had not, in fact, burst into numerous fragments. She then began looking her body over, running her hands along her arms and legs to make sure she wasn’t still bleeding. Instead, she found her skin completely intact and free of any of the cuts or bruises she was sure she should have had. Looking at her surroundings as she continued to pant as if she’d just finished running, she was confused to find that she was no longer trapped by the endless wilderness. Where there should have been trees as far as the eye could see, there were only four carnation pink painted walls and matching furniture placed around the cool white carpet. 

As the haze of sleep slowly wore off, she let out a huff of a laugh and curled into herself as she rested her head against her arms, slowly calming down as she came back to reality. “I’m in my room. It was just a dream.” She chose not to question the odd chill that clung to her skin despite the heavy blankets she’d slept under and the warm summer air as she ran her hands up and down her arms to soothe herself. “Just a dream.”

Once she felt calm enough to move, she turned her head to look at the clock. Eight a.m, it read. It seemed a bit unfair that she should have to be awake that early when she didn’t have any classes and she felt more than a little agitated, but she knew there wasn’t any hope of going back to sleep any time soon. She was too worked up and, with the dream still fresh in her mind, she feared that she might have another similar to it. The best she could do was get on with her day and hope for a better night's sleep later on.

Letting out a long sigh, she quickly inhaled and forced a smile to spread across her face. “Come on, Charlie! Perk up! No need to let a perfectly good weekend go to waste already!” she said as she stood from the floor and quickly made her bed, tucking the sheets back into place and fluffing her pillows back up. Walking with a slight bounce in her step towards her bathroom, she could feel her mood getting better already. “It’s a brand new day and it’s all yours! Let’s start the morning routine and get things back on track!!” 

Pulling open the door and flicking on the lights, she stepped onto the cool tile and padded her way across the floor to the tub, the cold beneath her feet making her think of her dream. With a quick shake of her head, she dismissed the thought from her mind and turned on the water, letting it run over her hand until it was a comfortably warm temperature before switching the shower on. As steam slowly began to fill the room she slipped out of her clothes and tossed them in the hamper in the corner of the room, goosebumps appearing on her flesh as she was left fully exposed to the open air. Unraveling the hair tie, she let her long, golden tresses fall down her back as she ran her fingers through them so they came unfurled. Once her hair was sufficiently free, she stepped into the shower and closed the curtain behind her. Under the spray of the water, Charlie let its warmth envelope her for a few minutes as she closed her eyes and absentmindedly hummed a melody, the heat of the water washing away the chill and putting her in a state of ease. 

Hot showers and warm baths had always been a sort of natural remedy for her. Whenever she was feeling blue, anxious, or upset all she had to do was step into the water and all her worries would flow with it down the drain, even if only for a little while. It had been that way ever since she was a baby, no matter the circumstances. Any time she cried for no apparent reason and there didn’t seem to be any hope in getting her to stop, all her parents had to do was run her a bath and she would stop crying almost as soon as she touched the water. Sometimes all they had to do was run the faucet and her wailing would cease as if she’d never started in the first place. She couldn’t explain it herself, but something about the water just calmed her in a way that nothing else could. 

Unfortunately, though, she couldn’t stay under the water forever, no matter how much she enjoyed feeling the heat of it against her skin. With a reluctant sigh, she washed her hair and body, her soap and shampoo leaving her and the rest of the bathroom smelling like lavender. Once she was completely scrubbed clean, she turned off the water and stepped out of the tub, the soft fabric of the bathmat keeping her from sliding on the tile floor. Grabbing a towel off the wrack, she dried herself quickly and wrapped it around herself, the air outside the tub a bit chilly even with the steam still wafting through the air. Grabbing another, she draped it over her head and rang out her hair, the towel instantly soaking up all the excess water. Walking over to her sink, she pulled her hair dryer out and plugged it in, the hot air emitting from the inner coils slowly drying her hair the rest of the way as she brushed it out. 

Sufficiently clean and well dried, she exited the bathroom and made her way to the other end of the room. Opening the same door as she had the night before to change into her nightgown, she flicked on the light and stepped into her walk-in closet, the large and spacious room containing every piece of clothing she owned. Discarding the towel still wrapped around her torso in the other hamper, she rummaged around in one of the numerous built-in drawers set into the back wall until she found a matching set of underwear and slipped them on. The dark fabrics stood out against her porcelain colored skin in a rather flattering way, but that hardly mattered; no one was going to see them but her. Looking over the rest of the clothing hung neatly on the racks above her head, she tapped her head in thought, wondering what to wear that day. She wouldn’t be going to any cocktail parties or social events any time soon, so that helped to eliminate her more formal attire. She briefly considered finally wearing one of the many sets of yoga pants and matching tops she’d gotten as gifts over the last few years, but quickly dismissed the thought; she was sure each set had been given with good intentions, but they just weren’t her style. After a moment, she gave up on putting too much thought into her attire and shrugged her shoulders, taking down a simple white dress shirt and black pants as well as a matching pair of black and white oxford pumps. 

Dressed and ready to properly greet the day, Charlie stepped out of the closet feeling like an entirely new person, a genuine smile spread across her face. “See? Isn’t that so much better? You went and got yourself all worked up over nothing. It’s like Dad always says, ‘Dreams can’t hurt you, so you don’t take shit from them!’ and then Mom would say, ‘Don’t curse in front of Charlie. But he is right, dear! Worry about them too much and you’ll give yourself bags under your eyes!’ And you know they’re right, too! Well, less so much about the bag thing and more on the dream thing, but you get the idea! You’re going to have a good weekend and laugh about this whole thing come Monday! You’ll see! Now let’s get started!” 

She walked over to the window and pulled the curtains aside, taking in the sight of the sun slowly rising further into the sky. Smiling a bit wider, she unlatched the French-style windows and pushed them open, the warm summer breeze immediately hitting her face as she leaned over the window sill to get a better look at the view. She took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air with gusto. “What a lovely morning.” She continued to look out over the horizon, enjoying the calm and tranquil quiet that was occasionally interrupted by the sweet song of the birds before everyone began heading out for work and the silence was broken for the rest of the day. As she continued to stare, though, her eyes were drawn to the green of the trees that made up the forest behind the house. Her smile slowly began to fade as she couldn’t help but see flashes of the darkened bark as she ran and remember the feel of the foliage scraping against her skin. A cold chill ran up her spin and she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling it start to seep back into her body. 

“Nope, nope, nope! Not happening!” she said as she quickly closed the window and drew the curtains in. “You said you’re having a good morning and by stars you’re going to have a good morning! Let’s keep it going! Hey, here’s an idea! Why don’t you try sending the gang a good morning text!” She strode over to her bedside table, moving on autopilot as she continued to talk to herself. “If you know Vaggie, which you do, she’ll be awake by now and getting ready for work. Angel no doubt just crashed about an hour or two ago so he probably won’t see it until tonight, but at least he’ll have something cheerful to wake up to!” She placed her hand down on the table, feeling around on its surface for her phone as she stared everywhere yet nowhere in particular. “You know you always love it when-.”

She cut herself short, her gaze focusing momentarily on the opposite wall as her hand frantically slid across the surface of the table before her fingers prodded around, thinking she had to have missed the familiar shape and feel of her phone. Finding nothing, she finally turned her head to look with her own eyes. Gone. The rectangular device was nowhere in sight. Leaning over slightly, she checked the floor on the surrounding area and then lifted her bedskirt to look under the bed in case she had accidentally knocked it onto the floor some time in the middle of the night or quite possibly during her tumble out that morning, both times coming up empty. 

“That’s strange,” she said in thought as she let the bedskirt fall back into place and stood up straight again. “I could have sworn I had it last night... In fact, I know I did. I remember because I offered to get Vaggie and Angel a ride home while we were in the kitchen cleaning up… I was in the kitchen… Ah! That’s right! I put my phone on the charger and I didn’t unplug it before going to bed because I was exhausted and I was headed upstairs right before I met the demon and-.” She stopped short again as she froze, all the color draining from her face and any warmth her shower had provided disappearing, leaving her feeling terribly cold as a sense of deja vu washed over her.

Twice. That was twice now she’d somehow managed to forget. How one managed to forget a demon that many times in the span of less than twenty-four hours was beyond her, but it seemed she’d managed just fine. Perhaps she owed herself a pass, given what she’d woken up to that morning, but she couldn’t find it within herself to let that happen. If anything, she deserved to feel like an idiot for it. It was her own stupidity that had gotten her into that mess in the first place, so a little self punishment only seemed fitting.

Charlie slowly turned toward the door, staring at it like it was going to burst open at any second and unleash all the forces of darkness on her. The mere thought of leaving her room suddenly had her trembling and terrified as she knew that the demon was out there somewhere, no doubt waiting for her to emerge and attack; he’d assured her that he had no intention of hurting her anymore, but that could have easily been an outright lie or changed in the time that she’d been asleep. 

What was she to do, she wondered. 

She briefly considered staying holed up in her room all weekend. At least that way, she wouldn’t have to see it. Tempting as that was, she knew it would never work, though. Not only did she have nothing to eat, but the demon could walk through walls for all she knew and, even if he couldn’t, she very much doubted that a wooden door only a few inches thick would stop him. The thought crossed her mind to simply jump out the window and land on the ground below to make her escape, but that idea was quickly scrapped as well. Her bedroom window was several stories up and the dirt below wasn’t exactly soft; she’d be lucky if she walked away with only a few broken bones. She then contemplated tieing her sheets and blankets into a makeshift rope and scaling down the side of the house, but she was too smart to know that wouldn’t have worked either. As horror-movie-like as her situation was, she was still trapped in reality and one wrong move could mean a world of pain or something much, much worse. Her last thought was to scream for help outside the window, but the demon would surely have heard her and stopped her before anyone had the chance to answer her call; even if he didn’t, she’d only have been putting other people in harms way and she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if anything happened to them. In the end, it seemed really only one option for her to take if she wanted to make it out of the house in one piece. Or even alive, for that matter.

She’d simply have to be brave and walk downstairs. 

As simple as the thought was, though, the action seemed so impossible. With each step she took towards the door her feet felt like they’d been tied to cinder blocks and were getting heavier by the second. It felt like hours before she finally reached it. It should have been so easy to reach out and open the door. Just one quick movement and it would be done. Even so, she could only stare at the door handle with worried eyes as she bit her lip to try and keep it from trembling, but she could still feel it twitching against her teeth. Her hands balled into fists at her side as they shook, her palms starting to turn clammy as she resisted the urge to turn tail and crawl back into bed. 

A part of Charlie hated herself at that moment. She was a grown woman and there she was acting like a child too afraid to peek in the closet for fear of seeing a monster waiting on the other side. In her case, there might actually have been a waiting monster, but that didn’t change the fact that she was an adult. It was time to stop hiding behind her fear and face it head on. Her arm trembled as it slowly lifted from her side and she raised her hand toward the handle. She might as well have been moving through jello for how fast she was moving, but eventually her fingers made contact and wrapped around it. She hesitated, briefly debating her other options one final time before throwing caution to the wind and yanking the door open. 

She wasn’t exactly sure what she’d expected afterwards. A portal to rip open and drag her down to Hell. A flood of ghosts, ghouls, and other wicked spirits to overtake and terrorize her. The house to be completely destroyed and decaying like it had been when her parents first bought it. She’d been prepared to, at the very least, see that terrifying and eerie smiling face looming over her. What she wasn’t prepared for, however, was to find a completely empty hallway. She couldn’t quite figure out why, but that was somehow even worse than anything else she’d cooked up in her fear riddled mind only a moment ago. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that this left everything up in the air and only left room for even more horrifying possibilities or maybe it was due to the face that she would have rather gotten the interaction over and done with, but any way she looked at the situation didn’t seem to bode well for her. Nothing seemed to be boding well for her anymore. Still, though, she knew she had to keep going. 

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she cautiously peeked out around her door frame, looking up and down the halls multiple times for any signs of moving shadows or leering eyes and wide smiles. She should have felt relieved to find nothing there but the pictures and paintings that hung on the walls and the pieces of furniture that served as decoration, but she knew better than to give herself false hope; she’d done more than enough of that the night before. Taking a deep breath, she let out a long exhale to try and steady her nerves; it seemed to help, even if only a little. 

“Come on, Charlie. You can do this,” she muttered quietly to herself before taking that first tentative step and exiting her room. 

She had tried to be calm about the situation, she really had. It would have been smarter for her to go slow and steady, to keep quiet on the off chance that the demon hadn’t known that she’d left the ‘safety’ of her room, but as soon as the door clicked shut behind her fight or flight instincts overcame her and she took off in a full on sprint down the hallway. She just couldn’t escape the thought that something was chasing after her and didn’t dare look back to check, afraid of what might be there when she did. All the horrible things that had happened the night before kept coming to mind and only made her run that much faster. Something told her that she wouldn’t have been able to outrun the demon if it was determined enough, so she reasoned that she would simply have to be that much more determined not to get caught. Almost surprised by her own speed, especially in pumps, she reached the other end of the hall in no time at all. Bracing her hands against the wall, she paused for a moment to catch her breath, still unwilling to face the hall behind her; she was in good shape, but hardly an athlete, so it was only reasonable that she’d need to stop despite her precarious situation.

It had been a good decision on her part to keep her ears open for even the slightest bit of noise, though, when the distinct creak of a floorboard a few feet behind her made her flinch and head snap up in attention. Despite wishing with all her might that it was just her imagination or even the house settling with the change in temperature due to the rising sun, but she knew deep down there was no denying that only a footfall could’ve made a noise that loud. 

Charlie began to tremble, her back tensing like she was preparing herself to be attacked from behind at any second, claws and teeth tearing into her like she was made of paper. It would have been so easy for her to stand there and wait for her fate, to coware in the corner like a terrified child. Every last fiber of her being was demanding she do so. However, a split second decision that could have been described as either brave or stupid depending on the perspective, she spun around to face… 

Nothing. The hall was just as empty as when she’d opened her bedroom door and peeked out, the blank faces of the portraits and landscapes staring back at her like they’d watched her the entire time and couldn’t believe she’d just done that. Letting out a groan, she leaned back against the wall as she pressed a hand to her face, trying to hide her shame from those lifeless eyes while she waited a moment to calm down and for her muscles to slowly relax. She knew she was acting silly and needlessly stressing herself. She’d been awake for well over an hour and made more than enough noise to alert anything else that might have been in the house with her and nothing bad had happened to her. Not yet, at least. Still, she decided she would err on the side of caution from that point forward, if only for some piece of mind. The battle was only half over, after all. 

Glancing to her left, her eyes traveled down the length of the stairs, across the black and white tile pattern of the foyer, and kept going until they locked on the double doors at the front of the house. It was such a short distance, really. It couldn’t have been more than twenty, maybe thirty feet at the most, but just then it seemed so much farther, like she was staring out across a canyon or cliffside. So much could happen, even in that short distance, but at that moment it was her quickest means of escape. Steeling herself against the nervous pange that jolted through her, she pushed off the wall and started her descent.

*****

Alastor let out a sigh, very visibly bored as he looked over yet another painting. While the strokes were brilliant and colors vibrant, no doubt made by an artist of great talent and worth a pretty penny, there were only so many paintings he could stare at before he lost interest. Of course, it didn’t help that he’d been doing so for the better part of the morning as he explored the first level of the house, feeling like he was in some sort of museum with all the fine decor and antique furniture surrounding him. He had started out interested enough, taking the time to observe if only to fill his time while he waited, but his patience was wearing thin with the task and he was beginning to contemplate resorting to other means of entertainment. 

He’d remembered passing a library some time ago, but he was much too jittery to be able to sit still long enough to read even a single line; it was his first time back in the mortal plane, after all, and he intended to make the most of it. There were more than enough televisions strewn about the place, but he dismissed that idea immediately. The newfangled technology seemed much too complicated and quite appalling, to say the least, leaving him to wonder why they were so thin and where the knobs were when they clearly weren’t on the front of the device. He briefly considered taking his exploration up to the next level. There would certainly be new and possibly entertaining things to see there, but he knew that the bedrooms were located on the second floor and it wouldn’t have been proper manners for him to go snooping through another person's belongings, as tempting as it was. That thought brought him to another idea, however. 

Glancing up at the ceiling, a mischievous expression spread the smile across his face wider. The girl, who was the very thing he was waiting on, was still upstairs and was the perfect audience to his antics. He could have easily woken her up, if only to move things along, and if he just so happened to scare her once or twice in the process then that was just cream in his coffee. If the previous night was any indication, it was assured that he’d be entertained in no time; her looks of fright were still very much fresh in his mind and just the thought of them already had him excited. Aside from that, it was well past time she should be awake. The sun was already starting to rise over the horizon, so he would have actually been helping her in the end, whether she wanted it or not. 

He knew better than to try anything rash, though, despite how much the idea tempted him. The girl seemed a bit frail when it to scares in general and even he had to admit his tactics could be overwhelming, especially to someone who was fresh from sleep. As disappointing as it was, he’d have to keep himself in check and refrain from frightening her. If only for the time being, at least, he would let her sleep for as long as she liked. She had to emerge eventually, after all, and then there would be more than enough time for fun and games between them.

With a reluctant sigh, he continued on, humming along with the random tunes that began to play inside his head, using the relatively disjointed yet cheerfully melodies to fill the silence while he waited. The action helped to alleviate the boredom and began to put him in a better mood, leaving him to wonder why he hadn’t done so sooner. Soon enough, the music began to play outside of his head, as if coming from a speaker, and he easily recognized the tune. Against his own better judgement, he began to sing along with it. He knew it was in his best interest to keep quiet so he could hear properly when the girl woke, but he just couldn’t resist. He’d always loved to sing and he certainly wasn’t going to stop any time soon.

**“Step right up!**

**We bring to you the finest entertainment**

**And I am pleased to be your humble servant**

**Accept our hospitality**

**Indulge in abnormality.**

**“Step right up!**

**We've something here for everyone's enjoyment**

**I do this as a gift—not for employment**

**A portrait of insanity**

**Approached with pure humanity.**

**“Come see our-!”**

“Well now, what have we here?” Alastor interrupted himself, the music immediately cutting off like the strike of a record, something out of the corner of his eye catching his attention and making him forget it entirely. He slowly approached the wall, tapping his chin as he tilted his head in an observant manner. “My, my. You’re just about the most interesting thing I’ve seen these last few hours.”

The painting was no different from the many others he’d seen, really. Not in quality, at least. Each stroke of the brush had been perfectly placed and the details were stunning, but at the end of the day it was just the same as all the others. Each stroke of the brush was perfectly placed and the individual details were stunning. None of that mattered, though. What had really caught his attention was the grouping of white tailed deer grazing in the foliage. It was a small group, composed of two doe and three fawns, the five animals looking content in their peaceful setting. While the mothers took their fill of the greenery, the little fawns pranced about, bucking their heads and practicing as if they had antlers already. 

A charming little scene, he thought as he reached a hand up and began to trace the outline of each individual deer with his finger. He had to be mindful of his claws so as not to scratch the delicate paint, but he couldn’t seem to help himself; each crease and stroke that bumped against the tip only reminded him of the coarse fur that covered their hides and he could swear he could smell their musk beginning to fill the air around him. His mind went somewhere else then, past the walls of the house and back to a place that was all too familiar. 

Gaze turning distant, he continued to stare at the painting without really seeing it, his limbs visibly tensing and relaxing repeatedly as something coursed through him. He recognized the sensation, though it had been a very long time since he’d last felt it. It ticked something at the back of his mind, something that he thought he’d never experience again before the previous night. The thrill of the hunt. He’d replayed the memories over and over and over, but this felt different. Perhaps it had something to do with the sight of the painting, but it was like he was experiencing it again for the first time. 

Primal, raw, and dangerous.

He couldn’t see his prey, but he could hear it. It didn’t know how to hide its footing like he did, but it did have a bit of a head start on him. It was faster than he’d anticipated, but that didn’t matter. He was fast, too, and a good tracker. His prey didn’t make it hard. It wasn’t careful in the underbrush. All he had to do was follow the broken branches and look for the prints it left in the dirt. It was crafty at times, zig-zagging this way and that to try and throw him off, but it didn’t work for long. He knew the forest too well. He caught up with it easily at times, getting it within his sights for a mark, but it just seemed too easy. If he hit the creature it would all be over and the thrill would go with it, but he also knew he couldn’t draw out the chase forever. As a compromise he merely grazed the creature, reminding it that he was there and sending it running faster at the sudden fright without maiming the meat.

That was his real prize. The meat. Flavorful, moist, and tender. The very thought of it had his mouth watering and stomach growling in anticipation. It’d been a while since his last taste and he was oh so eager for it. He’d already had his next meal and then some planned by that time. The meat on that one wouldn’t last him too long; it was thinner and leaner than he would have liked, but that was fine. It was good for him to start small. He could work his way up to the better cuts. 

He could hear his prey slowing down, getting weaker. He knew it was almost time. He’d drawn things out long enough as it was and he’d have better chances of not getting caught if he took it down sooner. It wasn’t exactly hunting season, after all. 

Something was wrong, though. He couldn’t hear it anymore. The sound of it’s hurried steps had stopped so suddenly, like it had disappeared off the face of the Earth. For just a brief moment, he felt a twinge of fear that someone else had gotten to his catch first and he could swear his heart dropped into his stomach, but he quickly reminded himself that no one else would have been out there that late at night. It was just him and his prey. Whatever had happened to it, he knew he had to act fast or he really would risk losing it. His next action went against his better judgement. Fast and quiet, that’s what he’d been taught, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He couldn’t help but flinch at the sound as he slowed his pace and purposefully stepped on a nearby twig, the thin piece of wood easily breaking under his weight. He nearly cursed at himself under his breath, but there would be time enough for self-reprimanding later. Just then he needed to focus. 

Coming fully to a stop in the last place he’d heard it, his eyes scanned the area around him, looking for even the slightest bit of movement and listening for the faintest of noise. It should have been hard to see in the dark, but it wasn’t for him. He was used to it. Even in the limited lighting he could clearly see the outline of each individual tree and twig, his eyes long since trained to see things in the dark. 

There, he’d thought. An outline that hadn’t matched the rest. It seemed his prey really was more clever than he’d given it credit for. It was still and almost too well hidden in the dark, but it had made the mistake of showing even the smallest part of itself. A fatal and stupid mistake, really. He was feeling generous that night, though. He would let it have that one small victory. His trap wasn’t too far off and he knew it would take the bait. 

Not letting on that he’d spotted it, he used the cover of darkness to disappear again, letting his footsteps be heard for a short time before quietly circling back. He was just in time too as his prey lept out from its hiding place, surprisingly graceful despite its evidently weak state, and ran straight where he knew it would. A noiseless chuckle rocked his body before he followed after, easily keeping pace a short distance behind it to watch the scene unfold. 

It was sad to watch, really, the thing fall so easily into his trap, but rather entertaining to watch nonetheless. His smile grew wider and wider the closer he drew near, his prey unaware of his proximity. He was a few feet away when it finally seemed to realize he was there, stiffening ever so slightly before slowly turning to meet his gaze. It had been crying, unsurprisingly, but it didn’t speak or cry out. A part of him had expected it to, almost wanted it to, but he supposed this was the more admirable way for it to go, still and silent. He watched, almost wishing it might run again, but it was much too late for escape now as the chase had run its course and it was time to put things to an end. Escape didn’t seem to be part of the plan anymore, though. A sense of understanding had come between them. They both knew what was going to happen and there was no use fighting it. He almost felt sorry for the thing, watching it cry and resign itself to its fate. Almost, but not enough. That was alright, though. It wouldn’t suffer much longer. 

Raising the hunting rifle from where it rested at his side, he rested the butt of the gun against his shoulder and placed the muzzle against its forehead, continuing to stare into its eyes. Something new came over it then. A sudden realization. As if snapping back from the trance it was under, it stared up at the barrel of his gun and barely had enough time to scream before he pulled the trigger and-.

Alastor was suddenly jolted from his thoughts and he shook his head vigorously, looking around in a slight state of shock. He hadn’t even realized he’d been so lost in thought that he’d been unaware of his surroundings. He couldn’t believe he’d been so careless. Any other time, he might have been angry at the interruption, but this was new and unfamiliar territory to him; he couldn’t afford to get distracted like that. Shaking his head once more to relieve the fog that still clouded his mind, he looked around once more to try and find the source of the noise that had startled him. Raising a brow, he couldn’t seem to spot anything nearby that would have roused such a reaction out of him. At least, not on that floor. 

Slowly, his eyes shifted until he was staring at the ceiling overhead, his smile widening into a terrifying expression. Ears twitching, he could hear slight shifting and rustling about upstairs, causing a new wave of excitement to wash over him as his patience finally paid off.

“It’s showtime.”

***

It had seemed like ages before the girl emerged. 

Just how long did it take to bathe oneself, he wondered, as the water ran continually within the room. He was all for looking presentable to the public; he’d practically written the book on it, but even he knew that the shower was running a bit too long by the time the valves were finally turned off. Ever the one to test his resilience, it seemed like even longer still before she was done drying and dressing herself. Still, though, his patience was once again rewarded when she began to walk toward the bedroom door. He could hear the hesitation in her step and race of her heart, no doubt knowing that he was waiting for her. The door had opened so agonizingly slow and he was practically foaming at the mouth in anticipation when she poked her head around the door frame. She was smart enough to check up and down the hallway for any sign of him, but she was unfortunately not wise enough to look up over her head. 

Though being a demon did come with its downsides, it also came with its own set of perks. Easily clinging and sticking to the wall, being one. He’d very nearly given away his position at her obvious cluelessness, having no idea that he was right above her door, looking ready to pounce the second she left the ‘safety’ of her room, which he was fully prepared to do. It would have been delicious to watch and wait until the perfect moment to strike, but he simply couldn’t wait any longer. The excitement was simply too much for him and he would have to settle for the dull showmanship of an early entrance. 

“Come on, Charlie. You can do this,” she muttered under her breath. He had to admit that it was rather entertaining listening to her talk to herself like so. She seemed to have a habit of that, giving herself a pep talk whenever her emotions started to get the better of her, but he could hardly fault her for it; he’d been known to do the same in his youth, but even so he couldn’t resist the urge to silently snicker at her falsely placed optimism, knowing it had no doubt led to more than enough trouble in the past. Hell, he was the undead proof of that. 

He suddenly found himself woefully unprepared when she sprinted out of the bedroom as soon as the door shut behind her. He could only stare in muted shock at the spot she had been in for longer than he should have. Despite his previous reluctance at an early attack, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance. He didn’t like being unprepared for new outcomes and she had a knack for surprising him at every turn. When he finally came back to reality, head snapping to the side with what should have been a rather painful ‘crack’ but was only a dull ache to him, he was surprised to find her already halfway down the hall. It seemed this new prey was also faster than he’d given credit for. He wouldn’t make that same mistake twice. 

Unfortunately for her, though, he was fast too, especially on four limbs. He crawled along the wall like butter across a hot skillet and caught up with her easily by the time she was at the other end of the long hall, his eyes glued to her back as she braced her hands against the wall and tried to catch her breath. It wasn’t ideal, but he could settle for it. Crawling off the wall, he prepared himself to finally make his presence known and end the silly little farce. He’d scarcely put a foot down onto the carpeted floor, however, when he made contact with a loose floorboard. 

He knew it was a dead giveaway as soon as it had happened. The creak of the board had seemed so much louder than it should have as it practically echoed off the walls of the hall. He could only stare wide eyed as her head snapped up in attention before they both froze. Cursing his own stupidity, he just barely had enough time to hide his form in the shadow of a nearby table, glad to find that once again luck was on his side when she didn’t even think to check more carefully in the shadows. 

Even he knew he was getting too cocky. That was the third time in much less than half a day that he’d slipped up. His actions were too sloppy. He would have liked to blame his over-eagerness on the problem, but there was no denying the fact that he was rusty when it came to stealth and it was hardly the appropriate situation for him to start practicing again. Though the idea was much less pleasing than any of his others had been, he’d have to keep himself hidden for the moment, at least until he could come up with another plan of action. Reluctantly sticking to the shadows, he slithered along the angle where the floor met the wall and trailed behind her as she took to the stairs. 

*****

It was agonizing to Charlie how slow she had to move. Still, though, she knew it was better to be safe than sorry. Running down the stairs was hardly the smartest move to make. One wrong move would have her tumbling down and she doubted the marble that lined the staircase would be merciful. Knowing her luck, she was more likely to crack her head open like an egg on the way down, leaving her body a bloody mess for the staff to find on Monday. If she could choose at least one way not to die, she’d rather her tombstone not read ‘death by staircase’; admittedly, she’d rather it not have been by the hands of a demon either, but she supposed it was a far less humiliating way to go. Despite knowing all this, her body still begged her to move faster, even if only a little, but she had to ignore that part of herself. One step at a time was all she could muster and she’d simply have to deal with that. 

What she couldn’t ignore was the cold chill that had settled at the base of her spin since she’d taken that first step. She’d been wrong only a moment before about something being behind her, but she just couldn’t shake that feeling that something was there, breathing down her back as it stalked her. Each time she turned her head to look, however, there was nothing there. She was tired of being made a fool of, but she’d rather look silly than be sneaked up on again. She wasn’t sure if her heart could take that again. 

With a quiet sigh, she kept her head straight, her eyes locked on the next stair in front of her. As if on instinct, she completely skipped the seventh step down, her leg stretching across the gap and moving on as if this wasn’t out of the ordinary. It wasn’t without reason, though. That particular step had been loose since the day they’d moved in. Her parents were always grumbling about shoddy workmanship whenever he used the staircase and it shifted slightly beneath their weight, forcing them to shove it back into place, but due to their busy schedules they had little time to give enough thought into calling a repair company. Charlie had learned to simply avoid it, but even she had to admit that it was a bit of a nuisance that was liable to get someone hurt one day. She didn’t dare try to fix it, though; no one would be safe if there was a hammer in her hand. 

She nearly huffed out a sigh of relief when her foot hit the last step and she was finally standing on the checkered tiles, but it wasn’t the time for celebrating. She wasn’t out of the water yet and things had been ironically quiet. Almost too quiet. She was used to being in a quiet house. She’d had years of experience, but just then it seemed so unsettling, so eerie. She almost wished the radio would flick on and play like it did the night before. Almost. She wasn’t so desperate for noise that she’d actually want the demon to appear. That was, in fact, the last thing she wanted. 

Charlie glanced around repeatedly, trying to keep an eye on every opening the demon might appear from. It certainly wasn’t easy. Her parents had opted for an entirely open space floor plan and, while it eliminated most doorways that it could hide behind, it also left her feeling open and exposed in the foyer. She might as well have been a sitting duck with a target on her back for all the good it did her. 

She’d been so distracted in her twisting and turning that she hadn’t even realized how close she was to the door until she was almost upon it. Despite her earlier decision to be more cautious, she couldn’t help but quicken her step those last few feet. Seeing it so close gave her a new sense of hope and drive. She was almost there, she was almost out. She couldn’t believe she’d actually made it. She hadn’t had much of a plan before seeing how she was certain that the demon would have caught her by now, but it all seemed so clear to her then as she reached for the door handle. 

Vaggie would be at work, but Angel was sure to be home. She’d probably have to knock on the door for a while and he’d no doubt be grouchy from being woken up so soon after just turning in, but he was sure to be more understanding once she explained things. After she’d calmed down and told him everything that had happened after they left, she could use his phone to contact her parents. They probably wouldn’t answer their cell phones, not recognizing an unknown number and all, but at least she could call their work phones. They always picked up those. It would take her a while to convince them, not having seen everything that Angel or Vaggie had, but they would have to believe her with a witness there. Thankfully, they’d never actually met Angel in person, otherwise she knew they’d never see him as reliable; as much as she loved her friend, it was pretty obvious the habits he kept and they’d only see him as ‘lower class filth’. She wasn’t sure what they’d all do after that; call an exorcist or priest to bless the house perhaps. They might even just abandon the house entirely, but she didn’t much care. All that mattered was that she’d never have to see the demon ever again. 

Charlie was ecstatic when she turned the handle, almost smiling even. It was strange how long it’d seemed since she last felt that way despite being sure she’d been at some point the day before. It felt like an entire lifetime had passed since then, but she didn’t have to worry about that anymore. All she had to worry about then was if she could make it to Angels before her shoes started hurting her feet and even then she didn’t care. All she cared about was the sight of the morning light, the fresh breeze hitting her face, and the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the freshly woken neighborhood as she pulled the door open and-.

************

Angel had been practically dead on his feet by the time he’d gone to bed. It didn’t happen very often, so it was rather welcoming that he’d more or less passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. He’d also turned in rather early, too. Whereas he usually crashed in the early hours of the morning and didn’t wake up until the sun was nearly setting, it was right around three a.m. when he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes open anymore. Fear could do all of that to a person, he supposed, but he saw it as some sort of odd blessing when it let him sleep deeply rather than restlessly. 

Maybe that was why he felt like beating the person who dared wake him up from such a good sleep upside the head with a baseball bat. 

He’d barely noticed let alone heard the knocking on his door from the comfort of his bed, his long body draped rather unceremoniously across the twin mattress with the blanket twisted around him like a snake and a thin sheet of drool pooling on his pillow. He didn’t know how long it’d gone on before turning more continuous, almost frantic as the person on the other side tried to get his attention. He grumbled at the noise, barely even sturing as it continued on. He mumbled a few things in his sleep, but otherwise remained oblivious to the world outside his apartment. It wasn’t until the knocking turned to pounding that he woke with a snort, looking around in confusion until he realized what was happening. With an irritated grunt, he rolled over and held the pillow over his head, trying to block out the sound of the pounding, but the thin piece of fabric and cheap cotton did little to allow him to go back to sleep as the pounding continued. He was only able to ignore it for about fifteen seconds before it finally got to him and he knew he’d never be able to go back to sleep as long as it continued. 

Hissing out a few obscenities, he glared in the direction of the front door to his apartment as he ripped the pillow off his head and tried to jump out of bed much too quickly. Not realizing he was still tangled in the blanket, he quickly tumbled to the floor with a not so painful but rather irritating ‘thud’. 

Face flat against the floor, he growled, “Someone had better be dead or dying or they’re going to be,” as he glared at the door again. 

Angel emerged a moment later, leaning against his door frame to keep from toppling over again as he still felt groggy, looking rather frazzled with his hair a mess and only wearing boxers. Any other time, he might have cared that he looked in such a state, but anyone that dared wake him up before he’d had a proper amount of sleep didn’t deserve to see him put together or in any way presentable. They should just count themselves lucky if he even bothered to put on any form of clothing at all. He saw no shame in being naked and anyone that did could get bent, in his opinion. 

Uttering a phrase or two in Italian, his voice came out groggy as another round of pounding started and he shouted, “Keep your pants up! I’m coming! I’m coming!” He stumbled his way towards the front door, feeling oddly hungover despite not touching a drop of alcohol the night before. Subconsciously, he checked the peephole before even putting a hand on the knob, a habit that’d been hardwired into his brain from a young age and that he’d probably never lose. A head of blonde hair came into view and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Do you have any idea what time it is?” 

“Come on, Angel! Open the door! It’s important!” a feminine and familiar voice called back, her tone almost pleading. 

“That was a genuine question,” he explained. “I actually have no idea what time it is. All I know is that IT’S TOO EARLY TO BE POUNDING ON MY DOOR AND WAKING ME UP!” 

“Will you just open the door?” she scoffed. 

Angel rolled his eyes, but was already unlocking the chain and deadbolt by that time. The door swung open and he looked down at her with a frown as he crossed his arms and leaned his hip into the door. “Yes? Can I help you?” 

“Jeez, I thought I’d never get your attention,” she said as she pushed her way past him and waltzed right in like she owned the place. “I was knocking for like twenty minutes before I finally heard you make even a peep.” She quickly made her way into the kitchen right beside the door, opening and closing the cupboards not so quietly. 

He silently cursed the thin walls of his apartment as he let out a huff, wishing not for the first time that he could have afforded a better place when he’d signed his lease so he could have pretended he wasn’t home and gone back to sleep. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve the pounding of his head, but the slamming of his cabinets wasn’t helping. “Cherri, can you just tell me what you're looking for so I can get you out of here sooner? I didn’t have a great night and I’m really not in the mood for this.”

Cherri raised a brow at his use of her name, but shrugged it off quickly as she gave him a once over. “Yeah, I can tell. You look like crap.” She knew she didn’t look much better with her strawberry blonde hair in a messy bun and My Little Pony pajamas still wrinkled from sleep, but she didn’t much care, not when it was only Angel. Angel rolled his eyes again as he closed the door and she continued to riffle through his cabinets, not finding much there. “I thought you were having that game night thing with your other friends. What, did you have a bad time with Little Miss Silver Spoon?” 

Angel yawned as he came into the kitchen and leaned against the counter, still trying to tune out all the noise she was making. “Yes… No… Well, it started out fun enough…. And then it wasn’t.”

“Jeez, what happened? Did somebody die playing Monopoly?” she laughed, pushing aside a cereal box to see into the cabinet better. 

“Pfft, I wish,” he laughed back humorlessly, looking somewhat distant as he ran his finger back and forth absentmindedly over the counter. “That might have actually been fun.”

Cherri paused and frowned, not liking the way he was acting one bit. She quickly glanced over his arms, looking for any sign of fresh marks that in any way resembled a needle. It was a relief to only see the old scars that had long since healed, but that didn’t necessarily mean he’d been entirely clean. “Do… Do you wanna talk about it?” 

“What’s the point? It happened and it’s over now,” he shrugged, resisting the shudder that tried to run down his body at the memory of the night before. He looked over at her then, seeming to lighten up, even if only a little. “So are you gonna tell me what you’re looking for or are you gonna continue your treasure hunt?” 

“Coffee, man! Where do you keep your coffee?” she asked, sounding somewhat desperate for it.

He cracked a smile and gestured to his left with a flick of his head. “On top of the fridge.” 

She beamed at him and practically jumped on top of it to grab the can sitting on the corner. “Jackpot!” 

“What? They don’t have coffee over in that place you call a palace?” he asked sarcastically. 

“Well, wouldn’t you know it, my servants forgot to buy some when I sent them to fetch my groceries!” she replied in the same tone as she tore the lid off and started the process of brewing a pot in his coffee maker. 

“Oh, the scandal!” he chuckled, placing a hand to his chest dramatically. 

“I know, right? I gave them a stern talking to for it afterward, so it surely won’t happen again!” she laughed, her nose wrinkling as she snorted before her tone turned a bit more serious. I ran out the other day and I’m short on cash, so I thought I’d bum some from my good friend Angel.” 

“Ugh,” he grumbled as his head fell into his arms. “I can’t believe you woke me up for something so stupid. Just when I was getting to the good part in my dream, too.” 

“Oh, the one about the Pope in the elevator again?” she asked as she filled the pot with water from the sink and poured it into the back of the machine. 

“You know it, Baby,” he replied, his voice momentarily turning husky as he raised a brow at her. “I was almost finished with his ‘mass’ when you interrupted. Now I’ll never get to see that slice of Heaven.”

“Not until you have that dream again, at least,” she raised a brow back with a smile. “It’s just too bad for you that I have to go to work early this morning and you know I can’t do jack without my coffee.” 

He hummed in thought, tapping a finger against the counter. “If he pays me enough, I could do Jack for you.” 

Cherri burst out laughing as she perched herself up on the counter by the sink and helped herself to some of the frosted flakes she’d pulled out earlier while she waited for the coffee to brew. “I don’t think he’d complain too much. I bet he’d even tip you handsomely afterward.” She dug around in the box, no doubt looking for the toy that waited at the bottom, but he’d already plucked it out ages ago. Looking a bit disappointed, a thought occurred to her and she quickly perked up. “Hey, did you see that meme I sent you last night? I almost died reading it.” 

“Nah, I crashed early last night,” he admitted. “Hold on. Let me get my phone.” 

He stumbled far less on the way back to the bedroom, but that didn’t mean he went particularly fast. He was very much tempted to simply crawl back into bed at the sight of it and sleep until he couldn’t possibly sleep anymore, but Cherri was still there and his Nonna would have turned over in her grave if she caught him leaving a guest unattended, so he sucked it up for both their sakes as he retrieved his phone from where it lay charging on the floor. Swiping the screen to unlock it, he ignored the several texts and few calls he’d missed over the night. It was almost surprising that more than a few were asking if he was okay; half the people that even bothered to try getting in contact probably assumed he was dead seeing how he always answered a text within a few minutes, but he doubted they actually cared. They were probably more out of courtesy than anything else. 

Just as the coffee finished brewing and Cherri pulled out what she hoped was a clean coffee mug to pour herself some, she was startled by a booming laugh from the bedroom and poor Pinky Pie almost ended up with a brown stain over her face. She turned with a grin, watching as Angel walked back into the kitchen, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes as he came. 

“Oh God, that’s too funny. I really needed that,” he said in between his fits of laughter and giggles. 

“I know, right?” Cherri agreed, finally able to pour the coffee into her mug. “I saw that and instantly thought of you!”

“I gotta send this to Kovach! He’ll get a kick out of it!” he smirked as he resumed his place against the counter and started swiping through his phone. “Hey, pour me a cup, too.”

“Sure, sure,” she nodded, already trying to find another clean mug for him. 

As he was searching for the contact name, he came across a text he’d sent before going to bed that night that still said ‘unread’. A frown pulled at his face again and he tapped on it, hoping it was just a delay on his phone's part, but the gray words beneath the text still read the same. Not for the first time since the night before, he felt another stab of guilt and wondered if the recipient was angry at him for what had happened. It was his fault, after all, for insisting they play with that stupid board and he could hardly blame his friends if that were so. He also couldn’t help but worry that something might have happened to her. She scared so easily and he hated the thought of her being hurt, frightened, or worse all by herself. 

He had to remind himself, though, that other people actually slept through the night and didn’t stay up as long as he did. As far as he knew, she was either still sound asleep in bed or just waking up and wasn’t glued to her phone twenty four seven like he was. There was still plenty of time before he should be really worried and alarm bells should be raised.

His fingers worked quickly as he sent another text, just to give himself at least some piece of mind for the time being. 

‘Hey, text me when you wake up, yeah? Just to let me know you’re okay. Please don’t be mad at me! Xoxo!’

*************

Charlie and Alastor stared at each other for a brief moment. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was pulled into a grimace whilst he wore that wide, ever present smile. His own eyes and, oddly enough, teeth began to glow, emitting their own forms of red and yellow light that stood out even in the daylight as he took immense satisfaction in her expression. His broad, towering figure engulfed almost the entire doorway, leaving thin rays of light to surround his silhouette, almost making him look like some sort of Heavenly being. She knew better, though. If the red eyes weren’t a dead giveaway, then the deadly sharp teeth in the inhumanly wide smile he sported were. This was no angel sent to protect her from the bad things in the world. It was a demon and it was the personification of the bad things in the world. 

Once that brief moment was up, Alastor lifted his hand pointedly into the air until it was level with his head, like he was trying to get her attention when they both knew full well that he already had it. “Hel-,” he started before the door was promptly shut in his face. He didn’t really know how to react to that and could only stare at the heavy set of wood as he stood frozen in place. 

On the other side of the door, Charlie was in almost the same state of shock, but she was hardly stuck in place as she looked away from it. Confusion clouded her expression and she couldn’t help but wonder if what she’d seen was just a figment of her imagination or a cruel trick of the light. Testing her luck and hoping it truly wasn’t what she’d seen, she pulled the door open again to see that same face staring down at her.

“-lo,” Alastor resumed as if someone had simply pressed pause and he hadn’t been rudely interrupted, but he’d scarcely finished the syllable before the door was in his face once again.

Charlie turned and pressed herself against the middle of the french style doors in a scrambling motion, her chest heaving as if she’d just run a marathon, as if any of that would have stopped him from getting back in. Her fear seemed to have caught up with her and she found it hard to stand as she trembled, the door handle pocking at the small of her back jiggling from the force of it. She pressed a hand to her mouth as she tried to suppress the sob that was welling up in her throat and her bottom lip began to quiver in time with her trembles, threatening to make her cry. 

She should have known it was too good to be true. It was all too easy. She’d been foolish enough to believe she could just waltz right out the door and she was going to pay the price for it. It almost didn’t seem fair. She’d been so careful, so thoughtful of her actions, and her only reward was walking right into the demons trap. 

‘Was this his plan all along,’ she wondered. ‘To truly lull me into a false sense of hope and freedom only to crush that dream before I could see it to fruition? That seemed so cruel, even for a creature of Hell. What am I going to do now? It’s not as if I can just walk right past him and expect to make it out unscathed, or even alive, for that matter. It’ll be the same no matter which exit I try. I already know it will. I could jump out a window and he’d right there, waiting just like he was at the door. 

‘Oh, God. He’s still right behind me. How long before he gets bored and decides not to leave the door separating us anymore? I should run, but where? There’s nowhere to go and he’d only chase after me like he did last night. I could hide, but for how long before he found me? He could probably smell me from a mile away and it would only end in disaster. I could get my phone. I could get my phone and call my parents just like I’d planned, but what could they do? They were out on business who knew where and probably wouldn’t get to me in time, even if I somehow made it to the kitchen without getting caught. No matter what I do, I lose. I’m going to die, aren’t I?’

She wished she hadn’t thought that. She couldn’t stop the tears anymore and they spilled down her face in treacherous streams. 

‘Oh, God, I really am. There’s still so much I wanted to do. There’s so much I wanted to see. I’m still young. I should have done more with my life.’

She hated the cliche thoughts that continued to run nonstop through her head. She hated feeling hopeless. She hated feeling helpless. What she hated most, though, was the quiet. She really wished something, anything, would happen, just to get it over with. Just so it wasn’t so quiet. 

‘Wait, why is it so quiet? He was a complete chatterbox earlier and now suddenly he’s as quiet as a mouse. What is he doing out there? Is he waiting for me to think he’s gone again? Is he trying to lull me into a false sense of hope again? That doesn’t make any sense, though. I already know he’s out there and he knows I know. Why even bother? Maybe he’s giving me a choice. Let me face my death head on or he’ll decide for me, but that doesn’t seem right, either. It’s been too long. He’s planning something else. Something I’m not seeing, but what is it?’

‘Maybe he just wants to talk.’

The tears stopped and so did her trembling. She was so caught off guard by her own thought that she had to take a moment to process it. 

‘Was that really what he wanted? That just seemed too simple. Too straightforward. And what am I supposed to do, set up tea and cookies in the parlor while we have an idle chat about the weather?’

‘He probably doesn’t want to chat about the weather.’

‘You know what I mean! This is a demon we’re talking about! He might have promised not to hurt me before, but that was probably just a lie! Another trick! What could he possibly want to talk to me about anyway?’

‘There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?’

She grimaced again and swallowed, but the lump stayed lodged in her throat. It was a bad idea. Terrible, really, but what other choice did she have? It took every ounce of strength she had to turn back to the door instead of bolting from it, but eventually she wiped the tears from her face, stood herself up straight, and faced it, trying her hardest not to tremble again as she turned the handle. 

Alastor stood there just as he had before, a look of mild amusement on his face rather than the anger anyone else might have been wearing. “May I speak now?”

“You may,” Charlie said, trying to appear calm and somehow managing to keep the tremor out of her voice. 

“Wonderful morning! Yes, sweetheart, a very wonderful morning indeed!” he proclaimed as he swept past her and floated his way into the foyer, leaving her standing at the doorway with a perplexed expression. “Excuse my sudden appearance, but I saw you heading this way and I just couldn’t resist! What a performance!” he went on, unwilling to admit he’d been following behind her and failed on more than one occasion to catch her by surprise sooner. He hardly seemed to notice the dull roar of hands clapping followed his words, but Charlie did; she looked around, trying to find the source of the disembodied hands and wondering if there was another radio nearby, but found nothing as he quickly went on. “Why, I haven’t been this entertained since the stock market crash of 1929!” He chuckled to himself, though Charlie hardly found it funny as she gave him an incredulous look, and a crackling chorus of laughter followed suit, making her look around again while he simply ignored it as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“S-stop right there… please,” Charlie called after him with a slight stammer, causing him to pause and turn to her with a questioning look. She took a few steps toward him, but kept a good distance between them. She was as stiff as a board with her hands clenched into fists at her side, trying to make herself look taller even though she was easily dwarfed by the demon. “I… I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but I’m not going to let you just waltz in here and hurt me, so… So you can just march yourself right back out that door!” She raised her arms as she pointed stiffly behind her, surprised her hand was actually steady and not shaking. 

Alastor didn’t move an inch back towards the door, though, nor was he at all phased by her intimidation tactics. Instead, he floated his way slowly over to where she stood, noting the slight hitch in her breath as she resisted the urge to flinch away from him as he towered over her again. “Dear, if I wanted to hurt anyone here,” he said with a slight chuckle as he lifted a single clawed finger into her hand and slowly pushed down until she was forced to pull her arm away or risk having it puncture her skin, nearly laughing as she held it to her chest as if he’d just burned her, “I would have done so already.” 

Charlie nearly had a heart attack when the tone of his voice started to change, crackling and popping like it was coming from a broken speaker and, with a few blinks of his eyes as he tilted his head to the side, his irises disappeared and were replaced with radio dials. The very air around them seemed to change as well, the colors shifting to unnatural hues as reality seemed to slip through the cracks as if it were being bent and warped to his will. She could see flashes of very strange symbols that she couldn’t possibly know the meaning of and, for a few brief seconds, the entire room seemed to black until they were standing in an endless void. She had seen him there, looking fractured and frayed, his skin an even more sickly gray than before and his teeth looking jagged as his lips curled up around them. It was the eyes, though. The eyes were terrifying. If not for the luminescent red orbs that made up his irises, which were horrifying on their own, they would have been two soulless black holes that could have easily sucked her in and held her in their darkness until they drove her to the point of insanity, never to return from that obis again. 

Like a switch being flipped, though, everything returned back to normal. Alastor stared down at Charlie unblinkingly, not even really seeing her until he shook his head back and forth and his eyes returned to normal, like he was shaking himself back into reality. He shouldn’t have done that, really. It was an unnecessary extent of his power and he knew he was only showboating at that point, but the look in her eyes as she stared up at him was well worth it.

Charlie felt like she was going to be sick. If not just for the fact that she very nearly got vertigo from the sudden shifts in reality but for what she’d laid her eyes upon. She might have thought she’d imagined the whole thing were it not for the fact that his eyes had remained those two pits of despair only a few seconds ago, unable to tare her gaze away from them at the time no matter how desperately she wanted to. It was out of sheer spite that she didn’t allow herself to even so much as gag, no matter how much she wanted to do that, too. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. 

“I’m not afraid of you,” she stated in a cool and calm voice as she stared him right in the eye, hoping that saying it out loud might have brought some form of truth to it, but it was a lie and they both knew it. 

“Oh, yes you are,” Alastor countered, his voice still dark yet far less terrifying than before. “I can smell the fear in you like a marinade. It’s a most exquisite aroma. I almost can’t help but wonder how it tastes…” His fingers ghosted across her cheek, not quite touching her, but she flinched nonetheless as she turned her head away so that his hand wasn’t so close. A part of him was disappointed. He had wanted to test the tenderness of her flesh, but it was probably for the best; a test might have led to an actual taste and he doubted he would have been able to stop himself. “But, let’s not dwell on that, dear! There’s much to do and not much time to do it! Or at least for you, there isn’t! You’re only human, after all! I myself have all the time in the world!” He chuckled to himself again, but she didn’t seem to find the humor in his statement. 

Charlie was starting to get a headache from his sudden mood swings and she could feel her energy quickly depleting the more she was around him, but didn’t dare let it show. If what had happened a moment before was any indication, which it was, he was still very dangerous and she needed to keep her guard up at all times. Letting out a huff through her nose, she raised a brow at him and asked, “Why are you still here, anyway? Don’t you have an abandoned school or warehouse you can go haunt or something?” 

“Oh, no. You haven’t forgotten our conversation from last night already, have you?” he asked, a mocking look of concern crossing his face. He jabbed the pad of his finger into her forehead a few times, not exactly being gentle about it and making her flinch each time. “Hello? Is this thing on? Testing, testing.” 

Charlie scoffed in a mixture of indignation and anger, swatting at the air around his arm whilst being careful not to touch him as she took a step back, trying to put some distance between them again. “I heard you loud and clear. You want to play a game or whatever with me.” 

“Yes! Exactly! A game!” he said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “I’m just itching to play it and I think you’d be the perfect candidate to help me!” 

“But… Why?” she asked, more than a little confused. 

Alastor couldn’t help but chuckle again, something he seemed to be doing a lot of that morning, but he was hardly complaining. “Why does anyone do anything? Shear, absolute boredom!” he explained as he placed a hand on either side of his head and slid them down his face. 

“No, I mean, why me?” she corrected. “Why do you think I’d even be remotely interested in any sort of game with you?” 

“It’s quite simple really,” he shrugged as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “The effeminate one seems to only ever have one thing on his mind and the short, angry one frowns too much for my liking…” Charlie couldn’t help but roll her eyes, not much liking his one sided explanation of her friends, but he chose to ignore it. “And then there’s you.” He tilted his head as he studied her for a moment, taking in her inquisitive expression as she waited for him to continue; if he didn’t know any better, he would almost say she looked genuinely interested to hear what he had to say. “But never you mind that! We have much to discuss and enough time has been wasted on these trivial matters!” It was almost comical the way her face pulled into a grimace as she seemed a bit disappointed in his avoidance of the question, but he thought better of laughing at the moment. 

A long sigh escaped her and she couldn’t help shake her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. The day had barely even started and she was already tired, something that no doubt had to do with her lack of a good night's sleep, but even that could be linked back to him as he’d interrupted her attempts multiple times. “And just what, exactly, do we have to discuss?” 

“Why, the rules of the game, of course! We can’t have a game without rules, after all!” he explained, feeling more and more excited by the second. 

Charlie could only stare at him incredulously after that. He actually assumed she was going to play whatever sick and twisted game he had in mind without any regard of whether she wanted to or not. At that point she couldn’t tell if she was still in fact scared or not. All she knew was that she felt very, very angry. Her hands balled into fists and it took everything she had to keep them at her side. She had this insatiable urge to punch him square in the face and likely wouldn’t have felt a single bit of remorse about it. 

That was the trouble with dealing with Alastor, however. As much as he ignored things, there was really hardly anything he missed, so wasn’t out of the ordinary when he noticed her change in demeanor. With a quick glance down, he saw the slight tremor in her arms and, looking back up, she visibly seemed to bristle at his words as she squared her shoulders like she was preparing herself to clock him right across the face. He found the sudden change a bit surprising when compared to her meek and fearful behavior from before, but he was hardly intimidated as he returned his gaze to hers, their eyes locking into a heated glare as she tried her hardest to look taller and he gave her a look that said, ‘Go ahead and try. I dare you. It won’t end well for you.’

Charlie felt herself physically deflate upon seeing that expression. She knew all too well what it meant and didn’t dare try to prove him wrong. It was for the best, anyway. She wasn’t a fighter and she knew deep down that her anger wasn’t going to do her any good. It would probably only get her killed all the more faster. That was the other problem when dealing with a demon. He had all the power in just about any situation and there didn’t seem to be anything she could do to change that. 

‘If only there was some way to get us both on equal grounds,’ she thought, the gears in her head turning furiously as she looked for any sort of solution to her dilemma. Alastor could only watch her curiously, his head tilting slightly as he watched her mind work silently. 

Charlie suddenly seemed to brighten, her eyes widening slightly as an idea popped into her head. It was his turn to be confused at her sudden mood swing as once again her stance changed to a less tense and angry one. Her lips pulled into a pleasant smile and she looked almost welcoming as she folded her hands behind her back. “You know, I think you’re right. We do have a lot to discuss. Why don’t you follow me somewhere we can make ourselves more comfortable and we can have that conversation?” 

Alastor opened his mouth to reply but never got the chance to as she was already walking towards the door to the hallway. Obviously caught off guard, he could only stare after her with his mouth slightly agape, certainly not the least bit prepared for her to take charge of the situation like that. 

Turning her head slightly and realizing he wasn’t following, she stopped near the doorway as turned with another bright smile. “Well, come one, then. I haven’t got all day. I am only human, after all.”

Alastors eyes widened slightly before squinting into a glare, a low growl she didn’t seem to hear vibrating at the back of his throat as she turned back around again and sauntered out of the room. True, she was giving him what he wanted, but once again she had taken the control away from him and he didn’t like it one bit. Cutting himself off with a huff of air through his nose, he quickly let his anger subside for the moment and reluctantly followed after her. Again, he would play along for the time being. That new game of hers might just prove to be entertaining, after all. 

*****

Charlie liked their new setting far better than the one before. Seated across from each other at the dining room table, it was much easier to keep the demon in plain sight and she didn’t have to crane her neck just to look him in the eye. They were on equal grounds this way, more or less; at least he wasn’t standing over her anymore. She would have been much more comfortable if they were at opposite ends of the table from each other just so there would have been more distance between them, but it was built for at least twelve people and they would have had to shout at each other just to be heard, which would have been a very poor business practice. Or at least that was what her father had taught her. So, with little else to go on besides his teachings, she sat in her chair with her posture straight and hands clasped together on the smooth surface; her elbows remained off the table, though, which was something her mother instilled upon her.

Alastor couldn’t say he disagreed with her choice of venue, though the dining room certainly wouldn’t have been his first choice. One of the few offices or studies would have been a better choice, in his opinion, but it was a more formal setting than the foyer and seemed adequate enough for the chat they were set to have. He was quite surprised to see that their postures were similar, though his hands remained steepled in front of his chin in a more contemplated manor whereas hers were clasped, his elbows resting on the arms of the chair and not the table. It was a bit disappointing that she didn’t offer him any snacks or refreshments; any good host would have, but it wouldn’t have mattered in the end whether she did or not. He wouldn’t have been able to eat them.

Charlie took a deep breath to steady herself. Not out of fear, necessarily, but more to do with the fact that she’d never really been good at making speeches. She could feel the urge to bite her nails coming on, but ignored it as she clasped her hands together tighter. “So,” she said, not surprised that his full and undivided attention was already on her, “we both know why we’re here, so-.”

“Of course! To discuss how we’re going to play the game!” he beamed with excitement, very nearly jumping right out of his chair but somehow managing to keep himself contained. He knew it hadn’t been a question, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He was already on the edge of his seat as it was.

“Right,” she agreed, though her tone hardly sounded certain as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His beaming smile grew slightly wider as he closed his eyes, looking like a child who’d just been told they did a good job. “Except we’re not.” His eyes snapped open and his smile fell slightly, now looking like he’d just been told shocking news, though for him she supposed that was probably the case. She nearly beamed herself at this as she took great satisfaction at that fact, but she couldn’t. Not yet at least. She wasn’t done. “Like I was saying, we both know why we’re here, so I won’t waste either of our time here.” Taking another deep breath, she went on while he watched her curiously. “Last night when you made your initial offer, you said I could take the time to sleep on it, right?”

“Yes,” he drawled out, sceptical of the way the conversation was going. 

“Well, truthfully, I didn’t do that,” she admitted, but was already speaking before he had the chance to even get mad at this fact, which she could tell he was starting to as his eye twitched. “However, I have had time to think about it very recently and I’ve come to a decision.”

“Do go on, dear,” he gestured with a wave of his hand after a pause. “Don’t keep me waiting.”

“Alright. Here’s my answer then,” she said. “Ever since you appeared in my parents home, you have done nothing but terrorize not only me but my friends as well. You have been rude, quite frankly insulting, and destructive to the point that I don’t even know whether there’s claw marks in the hardwood floor or not. I was nice to you in the beginning and even so you threw it back in my face. I tried to avoid you and hoped the problem, being you,” she pointed at him, “would go away on its own. That clearly didn’t happen. Evidently, the only way to get through to you is to be completely straight forward with you, so I’d like you to kindly listen very closely to what I’m about to say. Under no uncertain terms will I ever play any sort of game, gamble, contest, or wager with you now or at any point in the future. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’ll have to find someone crazy enough to actually want to play with you if you’re so dead set on this game of yours happening because it certainly won’t be me. Now, I think it would be best for both of us if you left and didn’t come back.”

Charlie actually felt proud of herself. She’d been clear and concise, not holding back her words despite feeling briefly guilty she might have been a little too harsh. Still, though, she knew he needed to hear it. It was better for both of them if she was completely honest rather than leading him on. She also couldn’t help but wonder if her father would have been proud of her, too. He was always saying she needed to be more assertive and she’d taken a page right out of his book. 

Alastor, however, was less than pleased. There was something to be said about her sudden bravado and he found this change in her admirable, but clearly it was misplaced on a creature such as him. Thinking perhaps he’d somehow misheard her, though, he decided to give her an out before jumping to any conclusions and doing anything rash. “So, that’s how it’s going to be, is it?” 

“Yes, it is. I hope you can understand. If not, well, then that’s a problem you’ll simply have to deal with on your own,” she replied, crossing her arms and nodding her head sharply just once to show she meant business, feeling justly smug as a smile pulled at the corner of her lips. 

“So you won’t even bother to listen to what I have to say, then, hm? There’s nothing I can do to change your mind, is there?” he asked, his tone a bit sharper this time as his claws dug into the back of his hands, very nearly breaking the skin. 

“I’m afraid not,” she shook her head. “There’s absolutely nothing you can say or do that will ever make me change my mind, so I suggest you save your breath, or lack thereof, and be on your way.” 

Alastor lips curled around his teeth and a low growl vibrated at the back of his throat again as his claws sharpened and pierced deep into his hands, but he hardly took notice. He tried to retrain himself and remind himself that he needed her alive, he really did, but his anger was quickly beginning to boil to the point that he was quickly losing control of himself and he didn’t really care. How dare this little girl do that to him? How dare she try to humiliate him like that? How dare she try to take this away from him? The more he thought about it, the angrier he got and it wasn’t long before all he could see was red. His temper only seemed to get worse as the growl grew louder and louder until she finally took notice, that smug expression he found himself hating finally falling away to be replaced with worry. He could feel his jaw and lower skull stretching out to an almost unnatural length, quickly beginning to resemble a muzzle, the skin there being pulled so tight that the bone underneath was starting to rip through. Bracing his now bleeding hands against the table, he slowly stood from his chair as his spine began to pop and crack, his form steadily getting taller until he was practically leaning over it just to stay standing. 

Charlie knew the second she’d heard that growl that she’d messed up. As if that inhuman growl wasn’t bad enough, he was turning into even more of a monster right in front of her eyes, looking more and more like a deranged animal by the second. She recoiled away from the sight, leaning as far back into her chair as she could go, as if that could save her. She glanced around, looking for something, anything that could help her, but there were no ouija boards she could hit him upside the head with or fireplaces to save her. She was completely alone. 

Through the haze of his anger, Alastor could see the way she coward and shrank away from him and couldn’t help chuckle, the sound just as deep and dark as his growl, at the sight. 

‘That’s right. You should be very afraid of me. I don’t know what ever made you stop,’ he thought, unable to find his voice at the time. ‘What a horrid little joke that was.’

Charlie was done trying to be brave. She was done trying not to tremble in fear at the face of literal death and she failed to understand how people did it every single day. Tears began to well at the corners of her eyes as he drew closer and closer, crawling across the table with his elongated body like something straight out of a horror movie. A sob nearly tore through her as she turned her head away, unable to face the sight of him anymore. She could feel his hot, heavy breath as it began to fan her neck and slowly spread up her cheek, the sound of his growling so loud in her ear that it was nearly deafening. She hid her face in her hands and curled tightly into a ball, able to do little else as she waited to die. 

The room fell still and she prepared herself for him to lung at any second, sucking in a breath as her entire body tensed. A new sound suddenly belted out right beside her ear and she nearly jumped right out of the chair, so startled that it took her a moment to process what was happening. 

Laughter. She didn’t want to believe it, but it was as plain as the nose on her face. The demon was actually laughing at her. They weren’t another dark or cruel chuckle like before, either. They were genuine, gut busting laughs that were even starting to make the table rock from the force of them. More than a little confused, she peeked out from behind her hands to find that he was still on his hands and knees on top of the table and he’d, thankfully, returned to his original form. He was also beaming from ear to ear as he held his sides and slapped a hand over his eyes like he was trying to hide his shame, though she highly doubted he had any. Confused and perturbed, she stared at him with a slight glare until he finally started to calm down. 

“Oh, I get it now,” Alastor said, still coming down from his laughing fit. To say he felt elated was an understatement. He hadn’t laughed like that in ages and it certainly felt good. Noticing her look of confusion as he removed his hand from his face, he added, “You were joking!” 

“Whah?” Charlie said, her face scrunching up like she’d just ate a sour lemon. “But I wasn’t-.”

“Careful now, dear,” Alastor warned, wagging a finger at her. “I do love a good joke just as much as the next person, but this one is wearing thin all too quickly. So…”

**“Don't make me laugh!**

**(Ha ha ha ha!)**

**Don't make me laugh!**

**(Ha ha ha ha!)**

**My funny friend, don't make me bend in half!”** he sang along with a disembodied chorus, his baritone voice reverberating throughout the room as he jumped down from the coffee table and grabbed the arm of the chair all at the same time, using the motion to swing her chair around so it was facing the other way. She clung to the arms with a vice grip, her fingers digging into the wood as she was afraid she was going to be flung right out of her seat, trying to right herself as the room spun slightly.

**“Don't be a card, dear.**

**Don't mess with Alastor,**

**Don't make me laugh so hard that you begin to ache!”** he continued, the lyrics rather dark despite the upbeat way he sang them, a perfect match to his own personality, as he slammed his hands down on the arm rests, effectively boxing her in as she tried to get out of the seat and forcing her back into it. 

**“Don't make me laugh!**

**(Ha ha ha ha!)**

**Or pull my leg!**

**(Ha ha ha ha!)**

**May I suggest you would do your best to beg!”** He leaned in rather close to her face, the tips of their noses touching as his lips curled and eyes widened in delight at the thought of her doing just that. Charlie thought of doing something, but it had less to do with begging and more to do with throwing holy water in his face. 

**“If you say "No", miss,**

**If you refuse,**

**This is your notice that I refuse to lose.”** He took her by the wrist and pulled her out of the chair, her body following his lead to its own accord as he spun her in a circle and stepped closer to her, getting in her face once again. 

**“Say yes, my dear, and stick with a winner**

**Believe me: that would be wiser.”** He tilted his head as he stared down at her while she glared up at him, his tone almost pleading with her, but they both knew it was more mocking than anything.

**“Say, "No", poor doe, and your a demon's dinner**

**And your friends are the appetizer.”** He placed one hand at the small of her back and the other at the base of her shoulders, dipping her back until her body was nearly bent in half and her head was nearly touching the floor while her hair splayed out all over it. She was forced to place her hands on his shoulders or risk falling to the ground if he decided to drop her. He licked his lips at the sight of her pulse racing beneath the flesh of her neck and her eyes widening as his words sank in. 

**“(Ha ha ha ha ha ha!)**

**(He he he he he he!)”** that disembodied chorus laughed, leaving Charlie to wonder once again where it was coming from, but if she was going to ask she never got the chance as he was already abruptly pulling her back, his face once again much too close for comfort.

“Get the picture?” Alastor asked, dropping the melody for a moment as Charlie tried to see past her second dizzy spell. 

**“Don't make me laugh, ha ha ha ha!**

**Or slap my knee, ha ha ha ha!**

**I'm no hyena,**

**So mon cher,**

**What'll it be?”** he asked as he swept her feet out from under her and held her in what might have looked like a tender embrace to anyone else but felt a cage to Charlie as she was once again spun in place. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for him to stop, knowing the vertigo might have gotten to her if she didn’t. 

**“Right this way to our play date, or write your epitaph?”** he asked as he set Charlie back down on her feet and finally released her. She started to back away instantly once she got her barings, not wanting to give him a second chance to grab her again. Hands folded behind his back, he followed her with each step, taking long, pointed strides towards her. 

**“You choose your fate**

**Don't make me wait.**

**And sweetheart…”** he paused, smiling wider when Charlies back hit the wall and she looked around helplessly, trying to find some way out but quickly realizing she was pinned again as his hand slammed into the wall beside her head. 

**“Don't make me laugh!**

**Ha-ha-ha-ha!”**

“So...” he said again as if he hadn’t just sang a whole musical number and danced her around like she was a puppet on a string. “Are we ready to play along now?”

Color flooded Charlies face, turning it beet red as her anger boiled to the point where she was ready to punch him again. “Are you serious?” She swept past him, but he didn’t try to stop her as she walked a few feet away and they turned to each other. “You threaten not only my friends but me repeatedly and expect me to play Checkers… Stratego… Battleship… Whatever with you!” Alastor seemed confused about what her idea of games were, but she didn’t care. As far as she was concerned, he could spend the rest of eternity confused. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. I. Am. Never. Going. To. Play. With. You!” She turned sharply on her heal and began marching out of the room, but was once again grabbed by the wrist and forced to swirl around again as she was pulled back towards him.

“Oh, you think so, do you?” Alastor asked as he raised a brow at Charlie, not budging in the slightest as she tried to free his hand from his grasp, his tone devoid of any of the laughter or pleasantries it’d had before. “Believe it or not, my tactics up until now have been me being polite.” She stopped struggling for a moment, looking at him like he’d just grown a second head. “Yes, yes, I know. Shocking right? But make no mistake, mon cher,” he held her wrist tighter as he pulled her so close that all she could see was his face, a small whimper from the slight pressure escaping her, “before the day is over, I. Will. Break. You.” He held her there for a moment as he watched the gears turn in her head, wondering what he meant by that, before releasing her wrist. 

Charlie staggered back from him, cradling her wrist to her chest like she’d just been burned. She tried to fix him with a glare but it was futile. Her lips wouldn’t stop quivering and her gaze wavered too much to even remotely form a glare. With an annoyed scoff she turned and successfully marched out of the room, though the victory was hardly worth the effort after what had just happened. 

Still cradling her wrist, she glanced down at it and finally managed to pull a glare upon seeing the slightly red mark still fading from her skin. “That’s what you think, you red clothed devil. Come at me all you want but you won’t break me, no matter how hard you try.”

Alastors ear twitched slightly and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “We’ll see about that, my dear.”

*****

With an annoyed sigh, Charlie entered the kitchen as she pushed the door open. She didn’t really have much of an appetite but it wasn’t exactly healthy for her to go around skipping meals, so she chose to ignore the knots twisting inside her stomach if only for that sake. It wasn’t as if she needed to eat anything heavy, anyway. Something light to get her through the day would suffice until she could get rid of her demon problem. 

If she even could, that is. He seemed dead set on playing that game of his with her, whatever it may be. For all she knew he wanted to chase her around with a butcher's knife and see how long she could last before he caught her or force her to be a part of some heinous ritual where he sacrificed her in the name of Hell. Either way, she had no intention of ever finding out. 

She slowly began searching through the cabinets, not really looking for anything in particular. She briefly considered looking through her fathers ‘secret’ stash of sweets, the one he was sure she and her mother didn’t know about, but quickly dismissed that idea. The way she was feeling, she doubted any type of sugar would agree very well with her stomach. There was always her mothers specialty diet foods which were low on sugar and high in corporate lies about how they were better for people than most other foods, but that idea appealed to her even less. Shrugging it off and deciding not to give it much more though, she pulled down a box of granola bars and opened one of the packages before placing the ones that remained back in the cabinet. 

She had just started munching on her first bite when a chill ran through the air. She rolled her eyes, wishing the day was already over with. “Here we go,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Having a bit of breakfast, are we?” she heard him ask, but didn’t look up from her bar. 

“Obviously,” she retorted after swallowing. 

“And is that all you’ll be having?” he asked, sounding rather surprised by this fact. 

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes again, she spoke before taking another bite. “Not that it’s really any of your business, but yes, it is.”

“Really now? I just don’t understand it,” he clicked his tongue like he was reprimanding her. She ignored him, chewing on her second bite as a distraction from him as she leaned against the counter. He didn’t seem to mind, though, as he went on anyway. “I just don’t understand how you women can tolerate eating so little. It seems like women have always had such tiny appetites. It’s no wonder you can’t do anything for yourselves.” 

Charlie grimaced at that, no longer wishing to ignore him as she turned to face him, but was surprised to see that he wasn’t where his voice was coming from. 

“Over here.” 

She turned, thinking he’d somehow managed to sneak up on her again, but still couldn't find him. 

“No, no, dear. Up here.” 

Looking up, she wasn’t at all shocked to see him lounging on top of the cabinets like they weren’t several feet off the ground and nearly impossible to reach without a step ladder. 

“Hello down there,” he waved. Huffing, she turned away and returned to her food, knowing he wouldn’t go away even if she had the energy to ask him to. “Ah, if only I could enjoy a nice breakfast as well.” She hummed in reply, looking as bored as she possibly could in the hopes he would stop talking. “I still remember the hearty breakfasts I used to eat. What a symphony of flavors that was. Eggs, bacon, cheese, and fried potatoes. Mm mm. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.” She almost wished she could say the same, but it hardly sounded appealing at the time. “Though, honestly, I think what I miss most… are the steaks.” She paused a moment, wondering how a demon would even get their hands on meat like that, but decided she’d rather not know as she resumed chewing. “Oh yes, and what excellent steaks they were. Perfectly seasoned with a mouth watering aroma, paired with lightly salted eggs, and oh so… bloody.” She nearly choked on her food as she was caught off guard by the sudden imagery, sputtering a bit as she tried not to inhale a shard of granola. “I can just picture it now. That thick meat darkened on the exterior yet delightfully red when you cut into it, the blood seeping from every crevice and sliding around the plate like its own marinade, each bite so juicy and warm like it came straight off the animal. Oh, my mouth is watering. Can you picture it, too? Doesn’t it just make you want to bite right into a cow?”

Indeed able to picture it, Charlie had completely ceased any form of chewing by that point. Any sort of appetite she might have had before was completely gone and the granola in her mouth tasted rancid, like spoiled food left to rot. She couldn’t even stomach the thought of swallowing as she rushed over to the garbage can and tossed the half eaten bar into the trash as she spit the chewed remains out as well. Walking over to the sink, she ran the water and rinsed her mouth out for a moment, riding herself of that vile taste. She glared up at him briefly as she briskly exited the kitchen, finding him smirking down at her, grabbing her phone from where it had been charging on the way out. 

“What? Was it something I said?” he called after her before he was out of earshot. 

Resisting the urge to growl and feeling very agitated, she made her way to the theater room with a huff. As aggravating as he was, if that was the worst he could do when he wasn’t turning into some nightmare fuel maniac with a thirst to kill her then she was pretty sure she could handle whatever else he had to throw at her. Or at least that was what she told herself as she shoved her phone into her back pocket, deciding to check it when she was feeling a bit less like chewing someone out. Arriving there shortly, though not soon enough, she grabbed the remote off one of the end tables and flopped down on one of the lounge chairs, glad her parents weren’t around to see her behavior. 

True to its name, the theater room had the largest tv in the house, the screen very nearly extending from one end of the wall it was mounted on to the other and was easily one of the most comfortable. The furniture was arranged in a half circle in front of the tv so that everyone could see it from whatever angle they were at and could have sat at least seven people, probably more if they all scrunched together. An old fashioned popcorn maker sat in one corner of the room, the machine still working and fully restored to its former glory, while a large shelf packed full of movies of all genres rested against another. It was any movie buff's paradise if they were lucky enough to see it.

She’d spent many a night there herself, binge watching anything and everything she wanted while munching on popcorn and passing the hours away. She hardly felt like sitting through an entire movie at the time, though, and she certainly wasn’t in the mood for popcorn. Not with that imagery still in her head. Instead, she flipped the tv on and absentmindedly surfed through the channels on cable, once again not looking for anything in particular. Eventually she settled for an I Love Lucy marathon that was playing, which wasn’t in color but she was fine with; she preferred the original black and white aesthetic anyway. 

She was actually beginning to enjoy herself after a while. The jokes had her laughing from time to time and she slowly began to relax. The laugh tracks played after each joke had reminded her of the demon at first and they almost made her change the channel on more than one occasion, but gradually she was able to simply put it out of her mind. She soon became so immersed in the distraction the show provided that she forgot about her unwanted guest all together, a fact she was all too happy about. Like all good things, though, that of course had to come to an end.

The problem started when the laugh tracks no longer followed one or two of the jokes from time to time like they normally did, but she blamed that more on faulty sound equipment and poor editing skills. Then came the overlapping audio, different sounds coming in from a completely different channel and it took her a moment to realize that the episode didn’t have anything to do with Lucy playing a rousing game of soccer. She tried flipping between channels to see if that would fix the problem, but it only seemed to make it worse. Not wanting to give up on her peaceful moment just yet, she did her best to simply tune out the overlap of the cheering crowd and instead listen to Lucy explain how she should get a bigger allowance for the month. Lastly was the static. It steadily began to creep along the edges of the screen, taking over until she couldn’t even see the episode nor hear the announcer shout over the roaring crowd anymore. 

“Oh, come on!” she said with a slight pout, wondering if there was something wrong with the cable that she’d have to call the company to fix until she heard a chuckle at the back of the room. She already knew who it was before she even turned, a groan rumbling through her chest upon seeing the demon standing beside the popcorn machine, surveying it like a curious child. 

“Aw, is your picture show not working?” he asked, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. She wasn’t sure how, but she’d had a feeling that his weird demonic magic was to blame for the problem and that single glance was enough to confirm it for her. 

Stifling another growl, she turned off the tv and placed the remote back where she’d found it, knowing she wouldn’t get to finish the marathon any time soon.

She could feel him trailing behind her as she once again stomped down the hallway, but she didn’t dare spare him a glance. He may have been annoying the piss out of her, but that didn’t mean she had to give him any attention or even the time of day. There were better things she could be doing than wasting her time on him.

Like reading a book, for one. It wasn’t necessarily her favorite pastime, but at least she could get lost in the pages for a while and maybe the demon could distract himself in the same way. Skimming the shelves in the library, she plucked a book from its resting place and settled herself into a nearby chair as she opened it to the first few pages. She’d already read the book once or twice, but at least she wouldn’t have to focus too much on the plot. 

Alastor didn’t seem to waste any time in his mission. Coming up behind her, he leaned over the back of the chair so his head was right beside hers and started reading over her shoulder. Looking up from the page, she stared straight ahead for a moment before looking at him from the corner of her eye just as he did the same. His smile was cheeky as he asked, “So, what are we reading?”

“Do you need me to show you the door?” she asked, closing the book in her hands and turning to look at him fully.

“No thanks. I can see it from here,” he said with a shake of his head. 

“Ugh! Why are you so irritating?” she asked, tossing her book aside and running a hand down her face as she abandoned the idea of reading.

“You know, a lot of people ask me that question but I can never seem to give them a straight answer,” he said thoughtfully, once again trailing behind her as she left the room.

It was like that for most of the rest of the day. No matter where she went, he was right there behind her, finding new ways to ruin the activity. She put headphones in and turned the music up loud to tune him out and he made that glitch just like he had the tv. She started to do a puzzle and pieces she had already put together would turn up missing or in a completely wrong spot, unsure of how he’d managed to force the two miss matched pieces together. She tried to go into the back yard for some fresh air and to clear her head but no matter how hard she pulled the door wouldn’t budge. She attempted to do her homework if only so she wouldn’t have to do it the next day and he kept watching over her shoulder, telling her she was doing it all wrong and making her doubt herself to the point she couldn’t even force herself to do it anymore. She finally pulled out her phone, wondering if she could find a legit exorcist or priest over the internet, before he promptly took it away from her and held it over her head to where she couldn’t reach it no matter how high she jumped; the cruelest part was when he put it on top of a high shelf, ensuring that she really wouldn’t be able to reach it without his help or finding a step ladder. 

Charlie was at her wits end, both physically and mentally exhausted as she sat silently on the couch in the parlor, her face buried in her hands as she longed for sleep but knew he wouldn’t let her have any. He was still there in the room with her, sitting on the armrest like he hadn’t just spent the entire day scaring the daylights out of her and annoying her every step of the way. 

“Well, we certainly had fun today, didn’t we?” he asked, already full well knowing the answer to that question. “Or at least I did. I’m sure there were things about today you would have much rather skipped over!” He chuckled boisterously, but she remained in the same position as he prattled on. “I think this little charade has run its course, though. That’s surely something we can both agree on. So, how about we suck up our pride and finally get around to that game of ours, hm?” Again, no response. “Oh, come now. There’s no need to be that way. It was all in good sport, after all, so why don’t you buck up and give me a smile? I’m sure you’ll feel better after.” Silence. A long sigh escaped him as he realized nothing he said was going to cheer her up. “So, we’re back to the silent treatment, are we? Alright then. I’ll bite. Let’s see how far you’re willing to take it.”

She hated to think of what he meant by that, but didn’t have long before she felt his presence shift and move throughout the room, pacing back and forth a bit like he was thinking about something himself. All was quiet and still for a brief moment and she found herself reviling, glad to have just that one moment, before she remembered that these two things were never good when he was around. She was just beginning to wonder if she should look up when a crash interrupted her thought, answering her question for her, and her head snapped up to immediate attention. 

It took her a moment to find the source of the crash only to see a broken decorative crystal ashtray laying in pieces on the floor. Alastor stood at the foot of the mess, his long, wispy tail moving back and forth like it was wagging. Her eyes widened, not wanting to believe what she was seeing as they nearly bulged right out of her head. 

“I didn’t want it to come to this, you know,” he sighed, sounding like it pained him as he floated a few feet away from the broken crystal and picked up a crystalline figure, staring at it for a few seconds like it was an old toy he was bored of. “I’m afraid you leave me no choice, though.” He held the figurine out in front of him and let it drop from his hand, the fragile material instantly shattering against the floor. Charlie gasped, feeling her heart drop into her stomach at the sight of her parents' broken possessions. “This could have all been avoided, really. I’m a reasonable man, but even my patience has its limits.” He picked up one right after the other, tosing them over his shoulder and to the side like they were already broken to begin with. 

Charlie could only seem to watch helplessly, stuck in a state of shock as she didn’t know what to say or do to end his trail of destruction. There wasn’t anything she could do, really. She never would have made it in time to stop them from hitting the floor and she certainly couldn’t have stopped him. Broken glass, crystal, and other fragile things lay littered all around, serving as grim reminders of her inability to act. It wasn’t until he came to the jewel encrusted ceramic apples that sat on a shelf above the mantle that she knew she had to put a stop to it one way or another. 

“Well, well, well, well, well. What have we got here?” he pondered, already reaching a hand up towards them. 

“No! Stop!” she shouted, jumping out her seat like a jack from a box. 

“Oh, so she speaks!” he said as if this fact surprised him, the smile on his face cocky as he turned his head towards her. 

“Look, I get that I upset you, and I’m sorry. Be angry at me all you want, but whatever you do please don’t break those,” she pleaded, showing him the palms of her hands in an act of surrender. 

“And why ever not? Are they that important?” he tilted his head curiously, the tip of his claw sliding along the edge of the mantle. 

“Yes,” she admitted, glancing between his face and hand repeatedly. “Those are part of my fathers prized collection. They are one of a kind and- No! Please! That’s his favorite one!”

The apple in question, which had rested in the center of the line, was the largest out of the bunch and the most intricate. Carved to a smooth and rounded shape, the ruby red surface gleamed in the light and the green colored stem looked like it had just been plucked from the branch of a tree. Wrapped around said apple was a slithering snake, it’s long body painted a light yellow color in contrast to the rest with fangs bared like it was preparing to bite whoever laid eyes on it. Blue sapphire heads had been set into the head of the snake, the gems soulless despite the way they seemed to follow everyone around the room. 

“Is it now? So you’re saying you would do anything to keep this particular keepsake safe? Is that what I’m hearing?” he asked, letting the apple rest in the palm of his hand like he was showing her a prize. 

A nervous look came to her face as she looked between him and the apple one last time, knowing she didn’t have any other choice. “I still don’t want to play any game with you. But!” she said quickly as he tilted his hand like he was going to drop it, pausing at her interference. “But… If I agree to at least hear what you have to say, will you please put the apple back where it belongs and not mess with it again? That seems more than fair to me.” 

“Hm,” he hummed, letting the offer stew inside his head for a moment as he looked into her pleading eyes. “That sounds like an adequate trade. I tell you what, I’ll do you one better, just because you’ve been such a good sport.” 

He snapped his fingers and she looked at him in confusion before he gestured with his head towards the piles of broken crystal and glass. She looked over just in time to see them collecting themselves back into their original forms and floating back to where they’d been sitting as if they’d never been broken in the first place. Relief flooded her and she gave him an almost grateful smile before remembering that he was the one who broke them in the first place. Her face quickly returned to neutral after that. 

“This, however,” he said, gesturing to the apple still in his hand, “I think I’ll hold on to for the moment.” She looked worried and he held up a hand to stop her before she could protest. “It’s just a bit of insurance. So you don’t try any funny business.”

She took slight offense to that, but chose to let it go as she crossed her arms and sat back down on the couch with a huff. “All right then. I’m listening. Let’s hear what you have to say.”

*****

It took everything Alastor had not to rush into the seat next to her on the couch. He’d been waiting to hear those words all day and to say he was excited was an understatement. Even so, he kept his strides even and calm as he walked over to her. Sweeping aside the empty box from the previous night, he set the apple down on the coffee table in front of them and took the other seat on the couch, crossing one leg over the other as he angled himself to face her. 

“The game is quite simple, really. There will be items I’ll be seeking out and I’ll need you to find them for me. Each one will be very specific and I’ll need you to find all of them for me before the game can end. It’s a sort of seek and find, if you will,” he explained.

“Like a scavenger hunt?” she asked, looking more than a little sceptical. 

“Well, more or less, yes,” he agreed. 

“And you need them because…?” she trailed off, waiting for him to finish for her.

“I want to get back to Hell, of course.” 

She did a double take, looking like she wasn’t sure if she’d heard him right. “You what?”

“It’s hard to explain, really. Someone like you couldn’t possibly understand, but a creature like me thrives in a place such as Hell,” he sighed, a feeling of nostalgia taking him to a place she couldn’t see as he stared up at the ceiling. “Hell is nothing like this plane of existance, let me tell you. It’s a rampant and thriving wasteland filled with the worst beings imaginable, a new form of chaos on every street corner, and sinners dropping down from the sky like birds who’ve had their wings ripped from their bodies! No rules! No expectations! Only pure entertainment and the constant struggle for power over one another as you try to claw your way up as high as you can go! It’s a never ending battle, but it’s worth the fight just to see all of those Godless sinners helpless beneath your feet as you crush what little spirit they have left and watch them tumble down into the fiery pit of failure.”

Her expression was blank, almost devoid of emotion as if she were trying not to think at all about what he’d just said. “Sounds… charming. I still don’t see why you would need my help, though. Couldn’t you find those items on your own? Or even just go back to Hell now?”

A long sigh escaped him. He’d seen it coming, but had still hoped to avoid the question. He’d always hated admitting his flaws and that time was no different. 

“You may have noticed I’m not always entirely here,” he said, gesturing down to his legs as they shifted between a normal set and a wispy, smoke-like lower half, the feeling rather irritating. “Something happened a long time ago. Something that drained me of my power and left me trapped here until I can recover them and now I’m no better than a ghost at the best of times. I’ve found that I can solidify my form at times, but only for a short and not very often. It’s rather vexing, but I can make due for the time being. That’s where you would come in, though.” She still seemed sceptical yet there was a gleam of curiosity in her eyes as he in turn gestured her way. “I will do most of the heavy lifting. Research, spell preparation, etcetera, etcetera, but I can hardly walk right into the nearest shop and pick out what I need without raising a lot of obvious suspicion, not like you can, anyway. You would be my eyes and ears on the streets. A fly on the wall, so to speak, and collect the things I need so that I can get my proper body back and return to where I belong. It’s a win-win situation for both of us, don’t you think?” 

“Well…” she thought for a moment. “That honestly sounds more like a deal than it does a game.”

“Hm,” he hummed again, unable to say he disagreed with her. “That’s another way of looking at it, I suppose.” 

“Well, in that case, what would I be getting in exchange?” she asked. 

Now that certainly caught him off guard. She hadn’t seemed the type to ask for more when it came to what was handed to her and he wasn’t sure how to react. “What do you mean?”

“Well, typically in a deal both parties get something in exchange for helping one another and I’d like to know what I’d be getting out of all of this,” she stated before adding, “If I even agree to any of this, that is.”

“You get me out of your home. Isn’t that reason enough?” he pointed out, not seeing how she wasn’t jumping at the chance after trying all day to get rid of him. 

“That’s one good reason, yes, but one that we both share. I want you out of here just as much as you want to go back to Hell, but when you add in the fact that I would be your errand girl we have the problem of you getting more out of this than I do. If I’m even going to consider dealing with the likes of you, it’s only natural that things would be completely fair for me in the end, right?” she smiled in that smug way, no doubt knowing she’d caught him in a trap. 

“Yes. I suppose that is only fair,” he sighed. “So what would you like in exchange?”

“What do you have to offer?”

His eyes squinted into a slight glare, his patience once again being tested. She certainly knew how to push his buttons, that was for sure, but at least he knew he was dealing with a worthy adversary and not some dimwitted mortal who would only bore him in the end. Therein lied the dilemma, though. Looking around, it was clear to see that she was a girl from a very well to do family, born and raised in lavish luxury, no doubt getting everything she ever wanted in life. What could he possibly offer her that she didn’t already have, he wondered. He thought back to every room he’d passed, racking his brain for anything that might have been lacking from the home. 

A thought popped into his head and he jumped on it almost immediately, knowing he could use it to his advantage. “A guardian.”

It was her turn to be caught off guard, clearly unprepared to hear him say that. “A… what?”

“A guardian,” he repeated. “You clearly live in this big house all by yourself, so I’d say the one thing you need is a guardian to look after you. Not only that, but you’d be under my protection, as well. No one would ever lay a hand on you so long as I am around.” 

She frowned at this. “First of all, I’m not alone. This is my parents home and they live here too. Secondly, I don’t need a guardian. I’m twenty four years old and I haven’t needed anyone to look after me for a long time.” 

“Well, from what I’ve seen, that couldn’t be further from the case,” he said rather bluntly. “Your actions are downright irresponsible at the best of times, you’re constantly getting yourself into trouble, and, let’s face it, you could clearly use some advice on dressing yourself. I don’t mean to offend you, but you dress like a man, dear.”

She very clearly did take offense to his words, but chose to ignore them. “Do you seriously expect me to believe you would ever keep me safe after everything you’ve put me through?” 

“Look at it this way. I can’t hurt you if I’m keeping you safe, now can I?” he tilted his head, watching as she let that sink in. “So, what do you say? Have we got a deal?”

“I…” she started, staring at his hand for a moment as he stretched it out towards her. “I’m going to bed.”

He stood up mere seconds after she did, following behind her as she headed for the door. “Now wait just a moment. We had an agreement.” 

“Yes,” she agreed, not stopping for even a second, “but I fulfilled my end of the bargain. I listened to the terms of your game and now I’m done. Kindly do the same for yours and stop following me while you’re at it.”

“We’re not done talking about this,” he stated, completely ignoring the apple still sitting on the coffee table as she took those first few steps up the stairs. 

“Well, I’m done talking to you,” she retorted as she continued to climb at a brisk pace, nearing the top already. “I’ve had a very long day thanks to you and I’m tired. Now will you please just leave me alone?”

“No, I will not leave you alone!” he replied, morphing into the shadows and appearing in front of her on the landing, cutting her off and not letting her pass as she tried to step around him. “You’ve been dodging me all day and I’m quite frankly sick of it! I want an answer and I want it now!”

“Ugh! I can’t take this anymore! I am so out of here!” she said as she turned and started descending the stairs, throwing her hands up in defeat. Where she intended to go, he didn’t know, but she sure wasn’t going to get there peacefully. 

“Don’t you dare walk away from me!” he nearly shouted after her as he came to stand at the top of the stairs. “You won’t like it if I have to chase you down!”

“Like it? Like it?” she repeated, turning to him as she paused on the sixth stair down. “There’s not about you that I like! You’re a horrible, fowl, disgusting demon who no one would miss if you disappeared off the face of the planet!” His gaze sharpened and he bared his teeth at her as a low growl left him. “Oh, just shut it, will you? You can growl at me all you want but it won’t change my mind about you! You want an answer? Well, here’s your answer for the last and final time! I will never make a deal with-.” 

He heard the seventh step shift as soon as she stepped on it and she was already falling forward before either of them had realized what was happening. 

*****

Charlie couldn’t believe she’d been so careless. She knew how dangerous the seventh step was and yet she had let herself get distracted. She had let the demon distract her. She knew almost as soon as her foot had hit it that she had messed up and that fact was only confirmed with it slid out of place under her weight, sending her off balance and falling forward. 

Time seemed to slow as she realized it was too late to catch her footing and save herself. She could see the floor coming into view and the stairs beneath, the instruments that would serve as her tools of death. She knew for certain she was going to die then, no doubt breaking her neck and then some on the way down. She wondered if it would be painful. It would probably hurt on the first few steps, but she couldn’t imagine her death would be very slow after that. She hoped she wouldn’t leave a bloody trail behind. She didn’t want to be a burden on the staff or her parents. She wondered how long it would be before they found out she was dead. It would probably take a few days to reach them. She wondered if they would take the time to mourn her or if they would throw themselves harder into their work, dealing with their grief in the only way they knew how. She would miss them. Angel and Vaggie, too. She wondered how many people would miss her. She didn’t have very many friends or family, but she at least-.

She was suddenly made aware of an arm wrapping tightly around her waist as time returned to it’s normal speed, making her realize just how close she’d actually been to hitting the stairs before it was too late to save her. She fell limply over the arm like a rag doll, practically dangling in the air as she stared down in shock as if she were still waiting for the impact. The arm slowly pulled her back, careful not to let her slip as her back brushed against a broad chest and she was set down on her rear at the top of the stairs. It wasn’t until she made contact with the step that she finally came back to reality and her hands moved to their own accord, scrambling to talk hold of the supports that held up the railing just so she had something solid to cling to. Her heart was beating so fast inside her chest that all she could hear was it pounding in her ear and she didn’t even realize someone was talking in her ear until it began to slow. 

“... breathe, Charlie. That’s it. Just breathe. Slow and steady,” they were saying, their voice sounding too calm after what had just happened. She turned her head to look at them, shocked to see Alastor kneeling behind her, an arm still wrapped around her to keep her steady while the other was placed at the middle of her back, the placement oddly soothing despite how still his hands were. “There’s a good girl. Had quite a scare, didn’t we?”

“You… You saved… me?” she asked, unsure if what she was seeing was true. 

“Of course I did,” he smirked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I couldn’t have you dying on me, now could I?”

“N-no… I guess not,” she muttered, unable to say much else as her body began to tremble, the adrenaline quickly wearing off and the realization of what had almost just happened dawned on her. 

Oddly enough, Alastor stayed with her like that for a while, holding her gently as she slowly but surely calmed down, telling her encouraging words from time to time when it seemed like she might go into a panic. Eventually, though, his hands left her as he shifted to a seated position beside her, his long legs resting easily a few steps below hers. They sat in silence for a good while as he stared off into space, looking somewhat distant yet still present, and she continued to grip the supports, almost too afraid to let go as she thought long and hard.

“It’s going to be like this all the time, isn’t it?” she broke the silence, her voice sounding oddly foreign to herself. She saw him turn to look at her from the corner of her eye, but he remained silent while he waited for her to continue. “It’s going to be like this until one of us ends up finally doing what the other person wants or we end up hurting each other. You’re a demon, though. You would survive. Not that I could do much to hurt you, anyway. The most I could probably do is give you a slight pinch.” He let out a huff of a laugh through his nose, but still let her speak. “Me, however…. Well, you saw what just happened. I’m just a human. I break too easily. I wish I could say I was one of those people who believe I could survive anything that gets thrown at me, but I’d only be kidding myself. And I’ve only been kidding myself all this time by thinking I could somehow avoid the inevitable. There’s clearly only one way out of this situation we’re stuck in and, as terrified as I am that this will only end badly for me and the people I love, I can see now that I have no other choice. I have to do this, whether I like it or not.”

Alastor didn’t need to be told twice or wait for any sort of formal invitation. He extended his hand towards her slowly, offering it to her for her to shake, though they both already knew the answer. “So, it’s a deal, then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, I finally did it! Woo! Super proud of myself for this chapter! I was a little worried about it at first, but I think I eventually came around and I hope you liked it to! Feel free to let me know what you think down below! Remember, I appreciate constructive criticism but harsh or rude comments will be deleted immediately. I do not tolerate that on my work.   
> That being said, I am very sorry this took so long to come out. I don't usually find the time nor energy to write when I'm at home so my work ethic was sporadic, at best. However, that has changed since I've started writing before I go to work and I'm hoping that means I can get the parts out on a more regular basis. I can't always promise that nor can I promise they'll always be as long as this chapter (53 pages. Holy cow!) but I will do my best!  
> Until next time, stay safe out there and know that I appreciate each and every one of you!  
> -Nessasephra

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading the story thus far! I hope I can continue to entertain you and make this story worth reading! Please feel free to leave your comments on your thoughts about this installment, what you liked best, what could be improved upon, etc, etc! I am always happy to hear from my readers!  
> Until next time, stay safe out there and continue to be wonderful!  
> Sincerely,   
> Nessasephra


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